


The Winter King and the Queen of Summer.

by alperez



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: AU, BookJon, F/M, Jon Snow Knows Something, Jon has a dragon, Jonerys, R Plus L Equals J
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-05
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:02:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 7
Words: 76,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26834893
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alperez/pseuds/alperez
Summary: A Jonerys set right at the beginning of canon. A raven flaps his wings and instead of swearing his oath, Jon Snow learns the truth of who he is. How this the game change when Jon instead of wearing black, seeks to wear Black and Red and goes seeking his crown.
Relationships: Arthur Dayne & Jon Snow, Jon Snow & Arya Stark, Jon Snow/Daenerys Targaryen
Comments: 958
Kudos: 646





	1. The Truth Shall Set You Free.

**Castle Black 298 AC.**

**Aemon Targaryen.**

He heard the gate open and he knew that he was riding through it and away from Castle black. His large white wolf was by his side no doubt and though he felt sadness at his departure, he felt hopeful too, more so than he had in many a year. The boy had not only lived but he'd found him also, somehow in this strange and oft perplexing world he'd found kin once more. Not just kin though but the rightful king, Rhaegar's heir, his Song of Ice and Fire. For years he'd felt alone in the world, he knew of course that he had a grand niece and nephew in Essos but tales of them were few and far between.

Even should they manage to evade the usurper's hired knives, the chances of them coming back and regaining their family's birthright faded each day they spent away from Westeros. Their House diminished the longer they were away and people forgot about the dragons once more, the human kinda this time. Should they manage to return they'd be painted as foreign invaders and people would forget they had been born in Westeros. They'd be deemed unsuitable to rule a land that they hadn't lived in for many years, Jon Snow though would not. Not only did he have the right of birth, but he had also been born in Westeros and raised in Westeros. True it was as a bastard, but a lord's one and he'd been educated thusly.

Just speaking to the boy he knew that he'd rally men to his cause. Their name would live on again and so though it pained him that his kin was leaving, he felt excited too. Something he'd not felt when he'd first met Jon Snow he thought with a chuckle. As he walked back to his rooms upon hearing the gates be closed he knew he had a small smile on his face. He couldn't help it as he thought of that cocky, assured, and sullen young boy he'd met but a few moons earlier.

**Some moons ago.**

"Samwell, you will assist me in the rookery and the library, Pyp you will assist in the kitchen. Luke report to one-eyed Joe in the stables. Darian we're sending you to Eastwatch, present yourself to Balkas when you arrive, make no comment about his nose. Jon Snow, Lord Commander Mormont has requested you for his personal steward."

"Will I serve the Lord Commander's meals and fetch hot water for his bath." Jon Snow answered angrily.

"Certainly, and keep a fire burning in his chambers, change his sheets and blankets daily, and do everything else the Lord Commander requires of you." Aemon said.

He heard the footsteps which were heavy and purposeful, the boy almost angrily stomping his way towards him and he tried not to sigh.

"Do you take me for a servant?" Jon Snow asked disdainfully.

"We took you for a man of the Night's Watch but perhaps we were wrong in that." he said.

"May I go?" the boy asked.

"As you wish." he said and heard the bump which suggested that in his haste to leave, Jon Snow had brushed hard against someone or something.

The boy had pride and talent too if what he'd heard spoken by his brothers was true, most saying he was the best sword they'd seen in a recruit in an age. No doubt he had wished to be named to the rangers, though for whatever reason he had not. Aemon put him out of his mind as he turned to walk back to his rooms, the mettle of the lad would soon be revealed. Either he'd knuckle down or this would be the last he'd see of Jon Snow he thought as he sat by the fire. It would prove to be neither though he didn't know it at the time.

"Maester, Maester, there's been an accident, Jon, he fell, he's hurt." he heard a voice call out later that day, Samwell he believed though he couldn't be sure.

"Where is he?" he asked worriedly.

"They're bringing him up Maester, he's not awake." the boy said, his own voice full of concern and he wondered if they were friendly.

He heard the shuffling of feet and pointed to the table, listening as they laid him out on it. Moving closer to it he reached out and touched the boy and felt that his breathing was steady.

"What happened?" he asked.

"He was on the walkway Maester, then he was not, we found him underneath." a voice said and he nodded.

"Chett bring me my things, the glass, and cloth. Is there any bleeding?" he asked as he touched Jon Snow's head.

"No Maester." Chett replied.

That was both a good and a bad thing, but to find out which he continued his examination. The boy's heartbeat was strong and steady and his breathing even, had he not been told he'd fallen then he'd think him simply asleep. It was as he touched his head to feel the injury that he felt it, and for a moment he was taken so much by surprise that he gasped.

"Is it bad, Maester." he heard Samwell ask and he shook his head, it wasn't an injury he had felt after all.

"We'll see." he said finally getting his breath back.

After examining him though he found the injury not to be that serious, at least on the outside that was. What damage was done inside he couldn't tell. After speaking to the Lord Commander and some others, he was finally left alone with the boy. Finding himself both keen to move to the table and see if he was right or wrong and terrified of finding out either outcome. In the end, though he couldn't stop himself and he moved to where Jon Snow lay. His fingers shook as he brushed them over his face, the nose, the cheekbones, the full lips. By the time he was done and sitting by the fire once more, Aemon had tears in his eyes. Jon Snow was his king, his grandnephew and a babe he'd assumed had perished along with the Princess Lyanna.

**Now.**

He sat by the fire and he questioned whether he'd been right or wrong to tell the boy the truth of his birth. Partly for selfish reasons and out of worry. Wondering if he should have just kept the boy here with him, kept him safe. Yet he knew he could not, it was not his grand nephew's destiny to rot at the wall, to waste his life here as if he was some criminal or unwanted thing. Dragons needed to spread their wings and fly and Jon Snow would fly high indeed. No member of his family had ever reached the heights the boy would and so despite his sadness at being alone once more, he was happy in the knowledge that he had done the right thing.

**The Kingsroad 298 AC.**

**Jon Snow.**

A prince? a king? him? each day since he'd been told he'd found it almost impossible to believe and yet deep in his heart he knew it to be true. It made sense, added up when he thought about it and the only question he needed to answer was what would he do with that knowledge now. His uncle Aemon was right, that Watch was no place for him and he was sure now that those dreams he'd had while recovering from the fall were more than simple dreams. Were they the only reasons then he'd have left anyway, but the news he received as he recovered forced his hand anyway.

While he'd lain unconscious on the table in his uncle's rooms, the world outside the walls of Castle Black had gone to shit. How it had happened he knew not only that they were calling his fa…his uncle a traitor and his sisters were now prisoners in King's Landing. As soon as he was ready he knew he had to leave and he was grateful when his uncle handed him the letter, knowing that without it people may not believe he had never sworn his oath.

It had been strange, it was what he had wanted when they'd named him to the stewards. Sam's words though probably would have worked and made him swear his oath. Something that Sam had done himself as Jon lay on a table recovering. He still may have when he'd awakened, only for the things his uncle had told him. Aemon both shattering his world and giving him something he had wished for all his life, his mother's name.

**Some moons ago.**

He walked angrily up the stairs, Sam's words made sense and it was true that being the Lord Commander's steward was an honor. Yet he had not come here to fetch and carry, to be a servant even to the Lord Commander. He had come here for..for…gods why had he come? To remove the stain from his father's cloak or to remove himself from Lady Stark's presence? Was he a coward who wished for an easy life? The Watch is an honorable calling he had believed, he could be someone there, make something of himself. Help to protect the realm with his valiant brothers.

" _You're a smart boy, Jon Snow, you don't believe that." Tyrion Lannister's voice said in his head._

Was he though? For surely if he was smart then he'd take his horse and ride out of here today, head to Essos or anywhere but here. Yet he knew he would not, it would be shameful not to take the black after he had said he would. Father wouldn't approve he felt himself think and felt a pang of bitterness about that too, remembering the last words his father had spoken to him.

" _The next time we see each other, we'll talk about your mother, hmm..I promise."_

He could ride out from here now, ride to King's Landing itself. Who cares about the shame he'd feel or his father would feel, he could ride there and see him again. Would his father keep to his promise? Would he welcome him or send him away? Would he actually tell him who she was? His mind was troubled and so he stopped as he walked along the walkway, looking inside for something, anything to make him feel better, and then he found her, as he always did. His little sister, the wild wolf that she was and he smiled as he thought of her. He'd almost ride there just to see her once more, to see her smile and to spend some time with her before he left for some other life.

Dreams, they were all just dreams he knew, the truth of what he'd do had been decided the moment he'd ridden from Winterfell. Tonight he'd ride out to the Weirwood and speak his oath and tomorrow he'd be a man of the Watch. Duty demanded it and Jon was nothing if not a man who believed in duty. He may not hold to his honor as true as his father did, he doubted there was a man alive who did, but he'd do his best to live up to him if he could. He turned to walk to his room, his mind still troubled but his heart at least set and his decision made. Suddenly he saw the black wings in front of him and moved his hands to wave the bird away.

Before he knew it he was falling, the old damaged wood of the walkway barrier giving way and his feet gone from under him. The patch of dark ice he'd slipped on taking his balance from him completely. He was falling, and then he was flying and it was in the sky he truly belonged.

**Now.**

He woke up as the fire burned out, the cold morning air having taken him from the dream. Shaking his head he looked to see Ghost staring at him, the wolf's eyes looking at him concernedly. Something he was grateful for, their bond had been far different since he'd woken up, those dreams he had of being Ghost far easier to understand now that he could slip into his wolf's skin at will. Not just the wolf's either, as sometimes he flew high in the sky in a bird's body, and others he rested in a large cave as if he was waiting for someone to come. After breaking his fast they set off once more, the road and weather both smooth as they rode. Though he wished to rush and ride hard, he knew he couldn't take the risk of losing his horse. Winterfell was too far away to walk and whatever time he felt he'd make up, Would soon be lost should his horse pull up lame.

It had taken him more than a moon to travel to Castle Black, it took a little over half that to make it back to Winterfell. Seeing the large grey walls of the keep in front of him made him almost choke up, he'd not ever hoped he'd see it again so soon. Instead he'd thought that maybe one day he'd be allowed like his uncle Benjen was, to come visit on special occasions. He kicked the horse into a run and raced with Ghost to the gates, only upon reaching them did he find himself worrying about his reception. He'd not expected to see Robb here, knowing his brother would likely have marched already, and yet he had hoped the gods would be good and allow him to catch him before he had.

"Halt." he heard one of the guards say and the man looked to see who he was "Snow?"

"Aye."

"You were supposed to take the black?" the man said moving his hand to his sword.

"Lord Stark was supposed to be Hand of the King, Alebelly." he said seeing the man more clearly now.

"Aye, so you didn't take the black?"

"No, I'll explain it to my brother." he said and the guard let him in, having two others escort him to the Great Hall once he dismounted from his horse.

He walked nervously, not worrying about himself as he had the letter from the Lord Commander, more it was the thoughts of what he'd feel when he saw Bran and Rickon once more. Would he think them brother's still? He believed he still thought of Robb that way. Sansa was his sister, though they had not been close in so long that her being his cousin for true may actually be easier to accept. Arya was and always would be his little sister, blood, the truth or the gods themselves would never change that.

"Jon." he heard Rickon say and then he was lifting the boy in the air to laughter, no he was their brother, now, always.

**Winterfell 298 AC.**

**Jon.**

His brothers had been happy to see him, Rickon especially but Bran just also. He'd needed to show both Rodrik when he had returned from the south, and Luwin the letter from Jeor Mormont. When he'd explained what had happened and why he'd not sworn his oath he'd seen the respect in Ser Rodrik's eyes. It was a look he'd received from the man only ever during training. Later he'd been told the full extent of what had happened, something that Bran hadn't even been made aware of both Ser Rodrik and Maester Luwin were at great pains to point out.

He'd held his tongue and had not called the woman a fool like he thought she was, that she'd started a war was clear to him and it had already cost lives but now was not the time to bring it up and here not the place. After offering his sympathies to Ser Rodrik for Jory's death and thinking on the others who'd been lost, he made his way to the godswood and offered prayers for them all. Some like the Septa had treated him little better than dirt, others like Vayon Poole and Jory were men he'd thought highly of.

Ser Rodrik had asked if he was staying and though the man would have welcomed it he felt, there was also relief in Jon's reply too. Bran accepted it and seemed to have been waiting for it, while Rickon had kicked and screamed and called him names, saying he was not better than the others who'd left them behind. It had been hard to take but he knew he couldn't stay here, not just because of events in the south. Even were it not for the war, his place wasn't here, not anymore. He didn't belong here as the old ghosts of his dreams would tell him each night.

"I'll leave on the morrow." he told Bran as they ate that night.

"I'll see that you have a fresh horse and some coin, Jon." Bran said and though he shook his head his brother would have no more said about it.

"Do you wish to pass a message to Robb, to your mother?" he asked and Bran looked at him quietly for a moment.

"Tell her to come home, Jon, Rickon needs her..I…."

"I will. Write a letter Bran, I'll give it to your mother or Robb myself."

He brought Rickon to his room that night and sat with the boy, telling him tales of dragons and dragon lords. Of Aemon the Dragonknight and the Battle of the God's Eye, of Caraxes and Daemon and Daeron the young dragon. Tales of his kin, his family, and a history that had always fascinated him, one he now shared with them in blood.

"Do you have to go, Jon?" Rickon asked, sounding even younger than his three namedays.

"I need to bring them back, Rickon. Arya, Sansa, your father, Lady Stark and Robb too, don't you want them to come back?" he asked.

"No one ever comes back, they leave and they never come back and now you're going to do the same." Rickon said tearfully and though he fought him when he took him in his arms, soon his brother calmed and slept.

Walking through the yard later that night he felt terrible, a large part of him wanting to stay and offer comfort to his brothers, both of them. Bran was doing his best and trying to be the Lord but he'd not even reached his tenth nameday and it shouldn't fall to him, Rickon was lost and needed someone, anyone, to guide him and Jon wished it could be him. But as he walked into the crypts and passed his uncle Brandon and then his grandfather's statues, as he stood in front of his mother's, he knew it could not.

"I wish I'd known, mother. All those years I wish I known you were here. I've wasted so much time being someone I'm not, wondering if you were out there and you were here all the time and I never knew." he said the tears falling down his face.

He reached into his pocket and took out the Winter Rose, laying it in her hand as he looked up at her. His mother, the woman who'd died bringing him into the world and who he'd never had the chance to know. He'd read his father's letters to Aemon, seen the truth in his words, and knew that he wasn't the only lie the realm believed about the war. They'd had loved each other and though they could have perhaps handled that better, their love didn't deserve what came next. The loss of life that came wasn't their fault, or his, it was just the world being it's usual cruel self.

"I don't know how mother, I don't know if I can but I promise I'll do what you wished of me, what father wished of me. I love you, though we've never met I've always loved you, wherever you are I beg you to know that.".

He said his goodbyes to Bran and Rickon the next morning, promising them both he'd see them again, Rickon barely listening to him. As he rode out the gates he looked back to see neither of them there and he felt a wave of sadness come over him, Rickon's words preying on his mind as he rode south.

It took him a week and a half to reach Moat Cailin, the lack of guards surprising him and he thought it odd. Even later when he found out the Moat was garrisoned he shook his head. This was the gateway to the North and it needed more men than this. He slept in the Moat that night, hearing more stories about the war, and his dreams were troubled once more. Dreams of a wolf alone and frightened and of a dragon waking from its slumber, a dragon that was eager and excited about something to come.

"Lord Snow." a voice called out and for the briefest moment, he thought he was back at Castle Black. He opened his eyes expecting to see Alliser Thorne standing over him.

The man who was though was nothing like Ser Alliser, he was small and slight, barely bigger than a boy, and were it not for his clothing then Jon may have thought that's what he was. Seeing the clothes though he realized this was a crannogman and there were none of them at the Wall to his knowledge.

"It's Jon, I'm not a lord." he said as he sat up in the bed.

"Jon, my lord sent me to ask you to come to him, he wishes to speak to you."

"Your lord?"

"Lord Reed, he awaits us in Greywater Watch."

"I'm heading to join my brother, I don't have time to stop anywhere else." he said irritably, though that was more that he'd just awakened than what the man was asking him.

"Lord Reed knows where you're heading Jon. He has some items that belong to you, from your mother and father and he'll see you to your brother's side quicker than any horse will manage."

He felt his heart race, had the man just said father than he'd have thought him speaking of his uncle, but he said mother too and no one other than his uncle knew of her, or so he believed. Jon broke his fast on the road and he, Ghost, and a group of crannogmen set off walking rather than riding. The Neck was a strangely fascinating place, one he'd read about many times. It was said to be the main reason the North couldn't be taken from the South, even more so than the Moat itself, and other than to the Starks the Neck had never fallen, and then only the once.

As for Greywater Watch, in the North that was as much a legend as the Wall itself. A keep that always moved and was never in the same place more than once. As a young boy, he'd been intrigued by the idea of that, the thoughts of a moving keep not something he could comprehend. He looked at Ghost as the wolf grabbed something from the water, the Lizard Lion no match for the teeth of a Direwolf. After Ghost had broken his own fast they moved on and were soon at the edge of a large swamp. The man who'd come to collect him, Laurence Bogg he'd found out he was called, pointed to some boats and then they were being moved across the river. Large poles instead of oars or sails used to propel them forward.

When he saw it he laughed, it was simple, and yet he'd never even thought of it. Greywater Watch moved because it was basically the largest boat he'd ever seen. It floated with the wind in the water and so was never where it had once been and though that was less mystical than he had expected, it was impressive all the same. He saw the man standing ready to greet him, as small as the others, and yet he had power and presence that they did not. Howland Reed had saved his uncle's life once, something that had been spoken of reverently whenever Lord Stark would speak of those days. Jon looked forward to the stories this man could tell of them, of his uncle, but mainly of his mother and father.

"Welcome to Greywater Watch, your grace." Howland Reed said as he stepped off the boat.

**Greywater Watch 298 AC.**

**Howland Reed.**

Events had a way of surprising even him, Jon Snow's arrival one he'd expected many years earlier and one he'd given up on. He should have known that Ned would never come to his senses and yet even he'd been stunned to hear that her boy had been let take the black. Ned's feelings for Robert blinding him from what needed to be done once again. Given what had happened down South he felt his friend had reaped what he sowed. Now though he wondered if everything happened for a reason and the god's plans which had always been a mystery to him, were for events to play out as they had.

For Jon Snow to head South when the crown was up for grabs. When it was the right time for him to reveal himself to the world, surely only the gods could engineer something like that. Coincidence wasn't a thing in Howland's mind, events happened for a reason and two things lining up this perfectly could only be the work of gods. Seeing the boy in person for the first time in five and ten years almost brought a tear to his eye. He looked like his father and yet he was Lyanna too, Howland glad to see he was finally on the path she had always wished him to travel.

"You have questions?" he asked as they sat in his hall, Jyana having brought in food which the boy hadn't eaten.

"Your grace?" Jon asked.

"You were my king from the day you were born, Rhaegar." Howland said.

"Rhaegar?"

"Your mother named you for your father, you were unaware of this?" he asked surprised as the boy seemed to know who he was.

"I read some letters, there were many different names, Visenya, Aemon, Jaehaerys, and even Aegon." Jon said.

"I cannot be certain it was to always be your name. Maybe they had another picked out you can ask him when he returns."

"Him?"

"Ser Arthur Dayne."

Jon looked at him in shock and he knew then that he had maybe gone too far. Though Arthur would be returning on the morrow and he'd need to know it all by then anyway.

"After we lifted the siege at Storm's End, your uncle received word that your mother was at the Tower of Joy in Dorne. We rode hard and when we arrived there we found it guarded by three men. Not just any men, but three men of the Kingsguard, Ser Gerold Hightower, Ser Oswell Whent, and Ser Arthur Dayne."

"The White Bull, The Black Bat, and The Sword of the Morning." Jon said his voice soft.

"Aye, your Kingsguard, your grace." he said to a smile "We were unaware of the true nature of things and since that day I look back and wish I'd thought more clearly. Suffice to say a fight ensued and Ser Gerold, Ser Oswell, Ethan Glover, William Dustin, Theo Wull, Mark Rysewell, and Martin Cassel lost their lives, the last four to Ser Arthur's blade. I received this for my trouble." he said reaching in and showing him the wound under his tunic "When Ser Arthur went to strike down your uncle, I moved and stabbed him in the back."

"Were it not for Howland Reed, I'd not be here today." Jon said repeating something he told him that his uncle would say.

"Aye, perhaps." he said to a confused look "We found your mother in the Tower and it was soon clear that she'd not make it. After making your uncle promise to give you the life you were born to live and telling you how much she loved you, she named you for your father, and then she passed." he said sadly.

He watched silently as Jon sat deep in thought, his eyes wet as he fought the tears. The lad composed himself quickly though and then looked at him, a question on his lips and not the one he expected.

"Ser Arthur?"

"When we were burying the dead I noticed he lived still, so on his oath that he'd come back here until the time was right, I healed him as best I could there and then more so here. He's been waiting for you and when news came you had headed to the Wall he headed there himself to stop you swearing your oath. Though news only came long after you'd left and I've since sent word to bring him back. He'll be here on the morrow."

"And then what?" Jon asked.

"Then your grace, you'll get your first Kingsguard, your first and your truest."

The smile he saw on Jon's face then was purely Lyanna, it changed the boy's features completely. When he sat thinking he looked to Howland's mind like Rhaegar did when he'd seen him in Harrenhal. When he smiled though he was her boy through and through and Howland wondered how Ned could have seen him each day and still not done as she asked. He tried not to curse the man but found he could not, and only that he felt that Jon still hadn't fully come to terms with things, he thought the boy may join him in it.

"Can you tell me about my mother?" Jon asked and this time it was Howland who smiled.

**The Neck 298 AC.**

**The Sword of the Morning.**

He had ridden hard to the Wall and was almost halfway there when the raven came. The note tied to its leg making him almost shout out loud such was his relief. Rhaegar had not sworn his oath, not thrown his life and birthright away in some cold penal colony that the Northmen had built up in their minds as something else. Their son was meant for more than this and he had almost strangled Howland Reed to death when he'd told him what Stark had done.

It had taken everything he'd had left within him to not do so, his anger something he rarely gave in to, and yet he almost had ended the man. For five and ten years he'd listened to what Reed had said, mainly because Lyanna had spoken so highly of him, yet in the end, he'd felt betrayed and worse felt she'd been betrayed. He was supposed to come to them, that's what Reed had promised him and that's what he'd sworn an oath too. Stark would wait until he was a man grown and tell him the truth, yet he had not and he'd almost been allowed join the damn Watch of all things.

Were Stark not a prisoner then he'd wish he was one. It was only that fact that stopped Arthur from seeking him out to take his damn head himself. That and that now the king had actually done as Howland had said he would. He felt some shame now for his attack on the man, after all, he'd have been dead if it wasn't for him. Apologies though were for later he thought as he rode hard back towards the Neck. He was a day out when the next raven came telling him that Rhaegar was actually in the Neck itself. Arthur felt his excitement rise at the thoughts of finally seeing the boy once more.

Navigating his way through the swamps was easy, he'd grown to know them almost as well as the crannogmen themselves. So when he passed the broken trunk or the weeping willow he knew he was close. Finally seeing the keep itself came into view, he almost raced in through the doors once he landed the boat at its dock. He heard the voices as he hurried through the keep. Howland's and another and the tale of the Knight of the Laughing Tree being told once more, a boy's laughter that sounded very much like his father's had once many years earlier.

"Ah, Ser Arthur." Howland said as Arthur stepped into the room and Arthur looked to see the boy look to him.

"Your grace." he said as he took a knee in front of the boy and took him in for the first time since he was a babe.

He had his father's build and his long dark hair could have been his too were it not for the coloring. His dark grey eyes were almost black and they were Rhaegar's, though he imagined in certain lights they'd be Lyanna's too. The smile on his face as he bid him rise was all his mother's and it was only when he stopped smiling that his father shined through.

"Ser Arthur, I. thank you Ser, for what you and your brothers tried to do, for my mother, for me, for my father, you have my thanks."

"There is no need your grace, it was my duty and it was one I was most happy to do."

"Please Ser Arthur, call me Jon, for now."

"For now?"

"I know who I am Ser Arthur, my name, and what my mother and father wished for me, but now is not the time for others to know, not yet."

"Of course, yo…Jon." he said and the smile was back on the boy's face.

They ate that night and Howland told them more about the war. Both of them listening to how the siege of Riverrun had been lifted and the Kingslayer captured.

"So he'll use Ser Jaime to get my uncle and sisters back?" Jon asked.

"I expect so, Jon, though I know not." Howland said.

"Laurence said you can get me to Riverrun quicker than any horse?" Jon asked.

"Aye, on the morrow if you wish you can head out. I'll have a boat leave you to the woods outside Riverrun, and from there it's a few miles ride the keep itself. You can purchase horses from Willem in Wendish Town, he knows me and will see you right." Howland said "But first, Ser Arthur."

"Have you shown him the letters?" he asked and Howland nodded.

"I did, it's best we keep them here, for now, send for me and I'll see you get them."

"If you'll excuse me for a moment your grace." he said as he walked from the room and back to his own.

Dawn hung on the wall, the blade was his by right and the one now in Starfall was a poor copy. Arthur remembering his brother's words when he bid him take it with him.

" _You may be dead to the world Arthur but you are the Sword of the Morning. You and no one else will wield this blade while you still draw breath."_

It wasn't Dawn he pulled down from the wall though, instead, it was the other sword, and this one he held just as reverently in his hands. He walked back to the hall to find Jon alone standing by the fire and he saw the wolf by his side for the first time. Gods it was huge, he heard of the Direwolves from Lyanna before, but never did he expect to see one for himself.

"Ser Arthur, don't mind Ghost, he's friendly enough." Jon said smiling once more.

"Your Grace, many years ago I head tale of this blade being in the hands of someone who didn't deserve it and so I decided to relieve him of it" he said with a chuckle "So that one day I may give it to its rightful owner." he said handing him the scabbard.

"This is, is this Blackfyre?" Jon said as he took the blade from its scabbard, the Valyrian steel shining in the light.

"The Sword of kings." Arthur said as Jon looked at the blade the same way he had when he'd taken it in Essos.

That the boy wished to spar was no great surprise and he had talent, though it had not been honed. Something he would be sure to see done. He seemed to have his father's knack for picking things up though and where his friend had a desire to be a great swordsman, Jon had the ability to go with it and in time he'd surpass where Rhaegar had been. Arthur slept well that night, his heart and his head finally in the same place and he looked forward to the morrow far more than he ever had before.

**Riverrun 298 AC.**

**Jon.**

He woke up to find that he was indeed in Greywater Watch and that it really was Blackfyre resting against the wall. This meant that Arthur Dayne lived and he was actually Rhaegar Targaryen named for his father and that he was the rightful king. That he hadn't gone mad was a surprise to him, something he'd half expected by now. But it felt right somehow as if there had been a piece of himself that was missing that had suddenly been found.

Speaking to Howland, to Arthur, to Aemon when he had been at the Wall, even speaking at night to Ghost he'd learned much and come to terms with even more. There were things he hadn't pushed at yet, certain scabs he was afraid to pick over. His uncle and how he felt about him? The life he'd been forced to live? How exactly he was going to take a throne back with one man and a wolf? Others he'd come to terms with quickly, Lady Stark would believe this some plot of his to steal Winterfell from her children he knew. When in truth he was the one who'd had his birthright stolen from him.

The crown, the realm, his birthright, all of that could wait and he knew in time he'd figure out how it could be done. If his dreams were true he'd soon have something that would help greatly in bringing people to his side. For now, he was focussed on two things, the dream of a wolf alone and scared and the knowledge he gained from Ghost of another wolf that was nearby. Dressing he put Blackfyre on his hip and found it felt right and then headed to break his fast, finding Ser Arthur and Howland along with his wife already breaking their own.

"Did you sleep well, Jon?" Lady Jyana asked.

"I did my lady." he said as he took his seat.

"My husband says you'll be leaving us today?"

"I will my lady, I must speak to my brother and see Lord Stark and my sisters freed."

"Of course Jon." Howland said.

After eating Howland walked them to the boat, and once they got there he told two of his men where to take them.

"I'll see you again your grace. When you call for us, House Reed will answer and I'll guard your letters with my life."

"I thank you, Lord Reed, for everything." he said and the man smiled before bowing.

He gave Arthur and Howland some time to speak to each other and saw how eager Ghost was to be on the other side of the swamps. It was dusk when they reached the other side and night when they entered Wendish Town, quickly finding a small tavern and having to share a room. He dreamt of her again that night, crying and alone, worried and scared and holding onto the small thin sword. It confused him somewhat as it seemed she was out in the open and not being held somewhere. Yet all he could do was call out in the night that he'd see her soon and hope it was enough.

The next morning they bought two horses and began to make their way to Riverrun. Arthur was quiet, and yet when he spoke to him the man seemed to be full of conversation. Jon wondering if it was just that they didn't know each other yet which made him hesitant to initiate one himself. When Ghost raced off as they set up camp, Arthur looked worriedly at him, Jon shaking his head and smiling knowing where the wolf had gone. It was much later that night when he appeared with the grey wolf walking beside him. Arthur moving to his sword and Jon hearing Nymeria's growl.

"Be calm, Ser Arthur, Nymeria is Ghost's sister, she belongs to my own." he said as he reached out to touch the wolf, Nymeria welcoming his hand.

He looked into her eyes and saw the happiness that she was with him and Ghost and the sadness their other sister wasn't here too. Both of them, the wolf and the girl were missed equally, though Jon told her he'd make sure one was brought back to her.

"We'll get her back girl, I swear it on the old gods and the new." he said and felt the wolf's tongue as it licked his face.

The next morning they rode out once more, agreeing between them that Arthur was Daeron Sand a bastard wrongly sentenced to the wall that he had been released and decided to ride with him. When they saw the forces at Riverrun he was shocked and stunned that his brother had managed to gather such an army. Had it not been for Ghost and Nymeria by his side then he knew he'd have been stopped long before now. Reaching the gates his luck ran out and he found that he was faced with his first questions, both Dacey Mormont and the Smalljon looking at him suspiciously.

"Snow?" the Smalljon said.

"Aye, my brother, where is he?"

"His grace has not been himself, Snow, not since word of your father came." Dacey said sadly.

"His grace? Father?"

He was made to wait for what felt like an age and during that time more people looked at him with either sympathy, anger, or suspicion. After telling him what had happened Dacey Mormont went off in search of Robb and the Smalljon was soon joined by his father and some others. It was one of the Glovers who suggested he was arrested, that he had broken his oath, and were it not for Robb's arrival then Ser Arthur may have cut the man down where he stood.

"Jon? Gods, it's true it is you." Robb said and before he knew it he was warmly embraced.

He didn't have time to enjoy it though and soon saw her looking at him, that same look she always had on her face directed at him once more. Jon knowing he'd need to explain the truth about the Night's Watch quickly before she got her own words out.

"Your grace, I have a letter from the Lord Commander of the Nights Watch expaling my situation." he said reaching in and taking out the letter before someone else could say anything and before Lady Stark could open her mouth.

"Jon, I don't need a letter, gods I'd have released you from your vows if I'd had the chance." Robb said after reading it and then when he saw his mother he realized why Jon had given it to him and he sighed "Come let's speak inside, your friend is welcome to stay also."

**Riverrun 298 AC.**

**Robb.**

He had been wallowing and he knew that it needed to stop though he had no idea how to make that so. His father's death had hit him hard and after it, he'd excepted a crown he didn't want or need. His mother's grief meant that try as she might to be there for him she couldn't and he'd sent Theon to speak to his father and bring the Iron Islands to bear. When Dacey Mormont asked to speak to him, he'd reluctantly agreed wanting no part in battle plans and yet knowing that he must.

But it wasn't battles plans she had come to speak to him about and he'd almost raced to the gate to see him for himself. How he had gotten here he didn't care, his oath meant nothing and if he was forced to wear this crown then he could use it for something good, something right. That he had come at all was something he was thankful for, to have Jon by his side was something he had wished for through all the days it had taken him to get here. Seeing him in front of him he felt overjoyed and yet he felt shamed too. He should have sent for him the moment he called his banners, he should have had him by his side and now he couldn't remember why he had not.

Walking back to his solar he did though and he knew he'd need to face her disparaging words and chiding remarks later on. She'd tell him to send Jon back and had he not had the letter confirming he'd not sworn his oath, something he knew his mother would find a reason to rail against him for, then she and others may have demanded his head. Though they'd not have done so for long in his presence. When they entered the solar he embraced his brother once more, glad when Jon did likewise.

"Gods, Jon it's so good to see you." he said smiling for perhaps the first time in days.

"You too, is it true Robb?" Jon asked and he nodded, watching as Jon almost fell to the seat.

"We'll make them all pay Jon, all of them, together." he said and was relieved to see his brother's nod.

Jon told him then of what had happened, the accident, and how he had been unconscious for more than a moon. That when he woke up he'd been told that he'd marched and since he'd not sworn his oath he had left, Robb thanking the gods for that. He told him of going to Winterfell and of how their brothers were missing their mother.

"Rickon especially, Robb. It almost broke my heart to not stay with them both. Bran wrote this for your mother." Jon said handing him the letter.

"I'll speak to her later, have you eaten?"

"I'm good, just tired." Jon said though Robb felt he may wish to be alone and deal with the news he'd been hit with on arrival.

"Go get some rest, we'll speak in a while." he said as Jon stood up "Jon, it's good you've come, brother, truly it is."

"Aye, we'll speak later."

He was no sooner out of the room then his mother came in, complaining almost before the door was closed behind her.

"What is that boy doing here? You should take his head for breaking his oath, Robb. How do we even know that's a letter from the Lord Commander?" she asked angrily

"By the gods do you even listen to yourself mother? Why would he fake such a thing? The lie would be proved out eventually, so what purpose would it serve? Father should have never allowed him to go there in the first place."

"Robb he…."

"Is my brother, I'll not have you or anyone else say anything else about it. He brought you a letter from Bran, or is this a fake too?" he said handing his mother the letter.

When he saw her tears he felt his anger at her recede somewhat. He knew it hurt her to not be at Winterfell, and truth be told he wished he could send her back, maybe with Jon here now he could.

"Perhaps you should…"

"No, I have to go to Bitterbridge and speak to Renly Baratheon, when I return we'll speak on your brothers."

"As you wish mother." he said not wishing to argue the point.

"Robb, the boy you can't…" she began and he stopped her before she said anything that aggravated him more.

"Jon is my brother, mother, I'll decide how he's treated. Anyone who dislikes it can take it up with a king." he said and she left the room, though not as angrily as she had when she'd entered.

Jon didn't appear for their meal that night. He was obviously tired and when Robb walked the walls later he saw the three wolves playing with each other in the grass below. He'd not even noticed that Nymeria, for it could only be her surely, had arrived with Jon and the sight made him smile. He took to his bed that night happier than he had been in days and actually slept peacefully. So much so that when he broke his fast the next morning he was somewhat back to his former self. Yet the sight of his brother when he walked in did not please him and he cursed his mother for angering Jon so. Only to find that it was actually him and not her that he was angered at.

**Riverrun 298 AC.**

**Jon.**

Seeing Robb again was incredible, though Arthur basically telling him that his brother was usurping him brought things into context. He could let that slide, for now, the fact was he still hadn't figure out how to take his throne back just yet and he felt when the time came Robb would take his side he believed. Though he wasn't actually tired and would have loved to sit and eat with his brother, he knew he'd not be allowed to. Lady Catelyn would insist he couldn't sit beside a king and while there was a time that wouldn't bother him, now was not it. Not knowing now who he truly was.

He'd not accept the slight from her, not in public and he'd never be in private with her and so that took care of that. So he'd grabbed some food and ate in the pitifully small room they gave him, though this wasn't a slight and was more it was the only one that was free. He dreamt of her again and felt her shivering in the cold air and it bothered him more than anything. She was cold, scared, and she felt all alone and meanwhile here people feasted and ate and drank well.

Finding he couldn't sleep through the night and to his surprise that Arthur almost seemed to expect this and was up and waiting for him, he walked the walls and was looking out on the dawn break when he felt her behind him. Turning to Arthur he gave him a nod and then shook his head when she moved toward him. That same cold expression he knew all too well on her face, that same one she seemed to reserve only for him.

"I wish to thank you for the letter." she said catching him by surprise "Bran says you were most kind to him and Rickon."

"They are my brother's my lady, I only wish I could have done more."

"I..wish I could go back to them, but I'm needed here." she said and he wondered why she was telling him this.

"Of course my lady, if you'll excuse me." he said making a move to leave before stopping "I'm sorry for your loss my lady."

She didn't say the same back, though he could see she wished too. Was that enough though he wasn't sure, now wasn't the time for that conversation he felt. He had just finished sparring with Ser Arthur when he heard it, how the Kingslayer would lose his head over what he had done to the Karstarks. How no way Robb could trade him now. He thought it was a jape, a jest and so he asked the men, and what they told him made him worry for his sisters, for Arya. What he heard as he went to speak to Robb though made him furious.

He'd sent Theon to bring the Iron Islands to bear, was his brother a fool? Or was he so taken in by the cocky squid that he thought this a good idea? Either way, he'd left them open to the squids he felt. Theon was the only thing keeping them in line, and even that only barely. Without the threat of him as a hostage, there was nothing to stop the Ironborn doing what they wished. Entering the hall he saw Robb smile at him and then frown and he hated that he then had to sit and wait to be called to speak to him.

It was past noon when he finally was and by that time he was even angrier when he entered the solar, Robb told him to take a seat and he found he could not. Instead, he paced around the room and trying his best to let his blood calm before he said too much.

"Gods, Jon sit, you're making me nervous with all this pacing." Robb said trying to make him relax.

"You sent Theon to the Iron Islands?" he asked.

"Aye, to bring an offer to his father, independence if he'll help us attack Casterly Rock." he said.

"And who are you to offer such a thing? Did you crown yourself king of the Seven Kingdoms brother or was it just the North and the Trident?" he said biting his tongue so as not to say more.

"My bannermen named me king, Jon, I didn't ask for it." Robb replied defensively, his brother's voice seeming as annoyed as his own.

"No you didn't but you don't get the right to offer a crown, Robb. What would you say if someone suggested an alliance to you and said you can name yourself king?"

"It's not like that Jon, I offered to back their claim." Robb said loudly.

"Aye, but who are you to back their claim? Right now Stannis Baratheon calls himself king as does his brother, as does Joffrey Waters, and now you also. None of you have the right to offer any other a crown Robb, with all of you fighting until one wins or peace is declared none of you can even be sure of keeping your own."

"If the Iron Islands join me I can..." Robb said but he didn't let him finish.

"Yet you sent Theon, the one thing you have to hold over the Iron Islands. Robb, tell me you see the problem with that? Please brother?"

"Theon is my friend." Robb said.

"Theon is a prick, he's always been a prick and the only thing you can expect from a prick is that it's looking to fuck you."

"You've never liked him, Jon." Robb said dismissively.

"No I haven't but this isn't about that. It's about the fact that I've known what kind of a prick he's been for years while you've been blinded by him. This is about the fact that he's supposed to be a damn hostage Robb."

"I needed to show good faith."

"You've shown far too much to a people who've never shown any."

The two of them looked at each other for a moment and Robb looked on the verge of saying something and then he sighed.

"I should have thought it through more clearly." Robb said.

"I should have been here to help you." he replied, not wishing to fight any more.

"Aye." Robb said and they both laughed.

He sat down feeling somewhat calmed and looked at his brother ready to ask about the Karstarks and Jaime Lannister.

"We need to get our sisters back Robb."

"Aye I know Jon."

"The Kingslayer."

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"You heard what he did to the Karstarks, to Daryn Hornwood, even were it not for them I'd still not be able to exchange him for our sisters."

"They are our sisters." he said angrily.

"And my bannermen will desert me if I give the Kingslayer up for them." Robb replied just as angrily.

"So." he said shaking his head.

"What of justice Jon, for father." Robb asked staring at him as if he didn't know him.

"Fuck justice, let someone else take that, what of our sisters Robb, what of family, the pack?"

"I can't Jon."

"Why not? What the hell are you fighting for? Why did you come South, for a crown, and for men to kiss your arse and call you, your grace? Or to get our family back home where they belong?"

"Father.." Robb said loudly.

"Our sisters are alive Robb and each day they have them gods knows how they suffer? Give them the Kingslayer and we march back North."

"What of the Riverlands?"

"Fuck the Riverlands, fuck your crown, and fuck anyone who's not us. Arya and Sansa, Robb, they're what's important not land, or revenge or justice, family."

"I cannot, I took an oath." Robb said.

"That's your final word?"

"Aye."

"Very well your grace." he said curling his lip.

"Jon." Robb pleaded.

"No, if you won't do something to bring our sisters back, then I will." he said getting up and walking to the door.

"Jon, don't." Robb said his voice cracking.

"I'll leave within the hour your grace." he said walking from the room.

He found Arthur outside and he wasn't the only one who'd heard he and Robb argue. Lady Catelyn almost brushing past him as he walked down the corridor, Edmure Tully and the Blackfish soon chasing after her.

"We're heading to King's Landing." he said and Arthur looked at him but whether it was the expression on his face or the people close by, the knight kept his counsel for now.

Riding the horses out through the gate he looked back to see Ghost and Nymeria looking longingly at Grey Wind. Almost as if they were bidding their brother follow, and yet the wolf stayed behind, turning to walk back towards the keep. Jon didn't look back and didn't see Robb standing on the battlements looking at them as they rode off, instead he looked forward and ahead.

"Are you sure about this, your grace?" Arthur asked.

"I need to find my sisters, once I do I'll worry about my throne."

"And do you have a plan for either, your grace?" Arthur asked.

"They'll take me to my sisters." he said looking to the wolves.

"And the throne?"

"For that, we're going to need a dragon, Arthur." he said laughing.

**Skagos 298 AC.**

_How long he'd slept for he didn't know, yet he woke not due to hunger but excitement and it was a feeling he had felt only once before. Some years earlier he'd woken from a sleep and felt it, the call almost making him leave the cave and fly south. Yet almost as quickly as it had sounded it had stopped and he was alone once more. Alone, angry and as he always did when he felt that way, he lashed out and let his anger burn itself out like his flames._

_Only then did he rest and think that it was better to sleep then be alone. To close down rather than to hope, and to feel sad rather than angry. Now though he felt it far more keenly and as he left the cave and took to the sky he soon faded into the darkness of the night. His black wings almost making him invisible against the night sky. It had been why he'd chosen this place, why he'd left his home and made a new one here._

_Men didn't bother him here and his anger was cooled in the cold weather of the north. The snow and ice a welcome relief compared to the fire and brimstone of the Dragonmont. He needed it, the cold, the ice, needed his heart to be calmed and he wondered if the ice of the man would be enough to do so. If finally, he'd feel what his brothers had felt, and if soon he'd know what it was like to be bonded to a rider. As he flew through the air and dropped down to eat the whale he wondered what it would be like to hear his name called true once more._

_Would his rider know his truth?_

_Would he calm his troubled heart?_

_Would the Cannibal be a distant memory?_

_Would he come to claim him for his own?._

_He felt that this time he'd find out the for certain, as he flew back to his cave he could still feel the link being formed, the sense of his rider not fading as it had once before. As he lay down he fell to sleep once more, knowing that this time he'd be sleeping for a much shorter time than the last. He felt his heart thump at the thoughts of flying through the air with a rider for the first time._


	2. Shadows and Dreams.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We take a look at Dany and Arya. We Join Arthur and Jon as they travel through the Riverlands and take a look into Arthur's past and see inside a dragon's mind as it readies for what's to come.

**The Red Waste 298 AC.**

**Daenerys.**

The dream had come again the night before, a dream of a dragon as dark as night whose wings covered the city in shadow and Dany had felt sure it was Balerion the Black Dread she was seeing. Ever since her children had been born she'd been having different dreams, dragon dreams in more senses than one she knew. Though it was not just the black dragon she dreamt of but the man who rode it too. Another black dragon she wondered given his dark hair and even darker eyes.

He, she dreamt of even more often than the dragon he rode, always standing there in the shadows, and once or twice when she'd been lucky he'd even been close enough for her to touch. The tingle that rang through her when she did was like nothing she'd ever felt before and each dream seemed to bring her closer to him. The black dragon though was a sign of danger and it worried her each time she saw it. Even more so when the horse arrived later that day and she found what was in the bags on its back.

"Who would do this?" she asked Ser Jorah trying not to let her tears fall and he told her that it was most likely another Khal, though for some reason she wasn't sure if that was truly the case.

"Another Khal, Khaleesi, one who recognized him from being with Drogo or with those who stayed with you." Ser Jorah said.

"He would just kill him?" she asked horrified.

"To send a message, Khaleesi." Ser Jorah said softly.

Though she felt a message was being sent and looking to see Jhiqui and Irri she could see it had been received, Dany wasn't sure if he was entirely correct in his assumptions. Rahkaro wouldn't have ridden close enough to a Khalasar to risk such a thing and it made her wonder just who else was out there that were a danger to them. It was Irri's cries though which took her mind from those thoughts and quickly to the clearly pained woman's own instead. Dany quickly doing her best to offer her what comfort she could and feeling her inadequacy at being able to offer only words promising vengeance.

They had lost much in the Red Waste, Dorea, now Rakharo, and many more, and each time she'd promised herself that this would be the last loss, that she'd not accept any more. Each time she'd promised, only to have to make the same promise when yet another loss came her way. Dany wasn't sure how many more she could bear and seeing the pain on Irri's face and the worry on those with her, she knew neither were they.

After giving Rakharo's head to the Great Stallion, even though without the rest of his body he'd not be accepted by him, Dany welcomed the night and hoped she'd dream once more. She said goodnight to her children and thought they could feel her sadness, Drogon especially given how he looked at her. Then wrapping herself up in the threadbare blanket she closed her eyes and welcomed sleep.

_The wind whistled around her and she looked to the open windows, the grey stone she looked out on looking dark and imposing and she almost sighed when she felt the arms come around behind her. She tried to turn to look but the strong fingers of a hand kept her facing forward and then she heard a voice that sounded so much like Ser Jorah's that she knew the shadow must come from the North._

" _If you look back you are lost Daenerys Stormborn." the voice said and she instead leaned back into the embrace._

" _Who are you?" she asked as the strong hands held her and she felt both safe and loved at the same time._

" _You know who I am."_

" _The Black Dragon." she said and she heard a chuckle._

" _My dragon is black, aye, but I'm a red one just like you."_

" _How?" she asked and then sighed once more when he felt the lips on her neck._

" _Close your eyes, trust me." the voice said and she did as he bid._

_She felt his lips and then his tongue as he kissed her more deeply and truly than she'd ever been kissed. Then she felt him move away and her eyes tried to focus on the shadow that he was once more. The dark hair and dark eyes once again almost the only things she could see. Though this time she was sure she also saw a sword with a dragon hilt and a blood-red ruby as it's pommel._

" _Beware the warlocks and trust the Whitebeard and don't let anger be your guide."_

" _Will I see you again?" she called out as the shadow began to fade._

"We will be together again, s _oon." he said his northern tilt ever more clear._

She woke up both refreshed and frustrated, her fingers going to her lips and Jhiqhi hurriedly bringing over the last of their water thinking her thirsty. Dany shaking her head and asking instead about Irri, who she was glad to see was sleeping peacefully. After eating as sparingly as she could, she began to ponder her next move when one of the men pointed to the dust in the distance, Ser Jorah immediately drawing his sword only for it to be sheathed once they saw it was Kovarro who rode their way.

Dany saw he was on a different horse than he had set out on and that he looked well-rested and fed. Her eyes narrowing when she looked more closely. Had he betrayed them? Her? Had he sold them out to someone and maybe even been part of the group who'd killed Rakharo? She couldn't be certain and so she spoke her suspicions aloud to Ser Jorah who shook his head. Moving toward the man she saw he looked upset that she wasn't welcoming him more enthusiastically and soon enough he explained where he had been and what he'd found. Dany turning to Ser Jorah for confirmation.

"You've heard of this place?" she asked.

"The area outside its walls is known as the Garden of Bones, Khaleesi, it is said when the Qartheens close their gates the garden fills with more." Ser Jorah warned.

She believed him and yet she knew she had no choice, her people, the few that remained, would die here and she couldn't accept more deaths if there was a chance they could live. Packing up what they had, they were grateful for the extra water that Kovarro brought with him and soon enough they were riding towards the great city of Qarth. Dany listening eagerly as Jorah told her more and more about it, closing her eyes at one point to try and make his voice sound to her like the one her shadow spoken in.

"Are there warlocks in Qarth, Ser Jorah?" she asked catching him by surprise.

"Aye, Khaleesi." he said and she smiled at that, her shadow was trying to protect her and she was even more sure now that his words were true, he was a red dragon just like her.

It took them a day and a night to reach the city and her night had been a disappointingly alone one, no dream or visit from her shadow to keep her company. So she was far less relaxed when they arrived at the city and she looked to the giant walls and gate. Quickly seeing the bones that Ser Jorah spoke of littering the ground around them all. She looked to Jorah when the armed men began to come out from the gates, the welcome not as friendly as she had expected, and then she saw the men behind them, the fat one who now walked her way.

"My Name is Daenerys…" she began only for the man to interrupt.

"Daenerys Stormborn of the House Targaryen." the fat man said.

Later as she sat in Xaro Xhaon Daxos's manse she knew she had learned a valuable lesson. She'd let her anger cloud her judgment earlier on, she'd let it be her guide even after the shadow had told her not to, and though it had gained her entry, she wondered if it truly had been what had done so. These men seeming to be just like the politicians her brother had once said were everywhere in their father's court, they played games and you needed to play if you wished to win. There was a time to be angry and let loose her flames and a time to let them burn until they were even more fierce and ferocious. Dany knew now that she needed to learn which was best suited for which moment.

Laying down in her bed she gripped the pillow tightly as she went to sleep, hoping beyond hope that he'd be there again and then smiling when she saw him, his hand out ready for her to take.

" _Welcome back." the voice said as he took her hand in his own._

**The Riverlands 298 AC.**

**Jon Snow.**

The dream had come again just as it had on and off since he'd left the Neck. Each time allowing him to see just a little more of her. Her silver hair and violet eyes marked her out for what she was if not who she was and Jon had thought about asking Ser Arthur about her more than once. That the dreams felt so real was the main reason he didn't though. The idea of telling Ser Arthur that he'd felt a shadow hold his hand and heard it speak to him was not one he thought would show him to be sound of mind. At first, he thought she may have been his mother, the hair looking dark in the shadows to him. Then he was certain she was his grandmother or some other relative, Jon trying to remember as much as he could about his family and their history.

Aemon had told him that he had an aunt and uncle in Essos somewhere, Viserys and Daenerys, and he wondered if that was who he was seeing. Though he was sure it was Westeros and not Essos that he saw in the dreams, which made him think that it was perhaps his grandmother he was seeing. Rhaella, his grandmother's name, and it was something that he found great joy in finding out as it gave him something more real to cling to. The knowledge that he had another family making him eager to learn as much as he could about each and every one of them. Ser Arthur would happily tell him as much as he wished to hear about them when he asked and his grandmother most of all, making him hope that it was her he saw. There were though so many others that he'd read about over the years, Rhaenys and Visenya, Aysanne, Rhaenyra, Daenys. So many that he supposed it could be any of them and though he welcomed the dreams, he didn't appreciate the confusion he felt after having them.

Getting up, he stretched and then walked to the stream to wash and take a drink before heading back to sit by the fire with Ser Arthur, who as always was already awake. Ghost and Nymeria were some distance ahead of them hunting and Jon could feel them both, which was yet another thing that he'd noticed more and more since he had left The Neck. His connection with Ghost had grown stronger and stronger and he now felt what his wolf did even more completely. He could also now simply just close his eyes and be in Ghost in a heartbeat. Once he did he'd be able to see what Ghost did and feel everything that went through the wolf's mind. Nymeria too he could feel, albeit differently.

"Eat." Arthur said handing him some of the rabbits he'd cooked.

"How long have you been awake, Arthur?" he asked and Arthur just shook his head.

"A while." Arthur said as Jon sat down and ate the rabbit to break his fast.

They sat in silence for a little bit, Arthur looking at him as Jon tried his best to let the dreams go from his mind, only to find he could not. When he caught Arthur looking at him concernedly a little later he wondered if he should tell him, deciding not to and then finding he needed to speak on it and on the other dreams that he sometimes had. This one he had put down to finding out about his family also, as why else would he dreams of dragons.

"Did my father…did my father ever have dreams, Arthur?" he asked not able to look the knight straight in the face.

"Dreams?" Arthur asked as Jon glanced at him before looking away.

"I dreamt of a woman, Arthur, her hair was silver and her eyes violet, it felt real as if I was with her and not just dreaming of her. We were in a room, the windows were cut from stone and open to the elements and there was a large table that was like a map of Westeros and a chair that sat looking over it." Jon said feeling foolish as he spoke only to see Arthur looking at him oddly.

"Dragonstone, the Chamber of the Painted Table." Arthur said and Jon dropped the pouch of water he'd reached for to the ground, relieved he'd not opened it.

"It's real?" he asked though he had already known the answer.

"It's real, Aegon had the table built to prepare for the conquest. Tell me more about the woman." Arthur said and Jon did just that.

He didn't seem to recognize her from his words though given so many of the women in his family looked so alike that was understandable. Like him, Ser Arthur seemed almost sure she was his grandmother and that he was seeing her on Dragonstone only added to that belief. Jon knowing that no matter what else he did in this world, he needed to set foot on the island of his ancestors. When he told him about the dragon dreams, Arthur noticed something that Jon had not, and it both scared and excited him, Arthur too.

"You say it felt like it did with Ghost." Arthur said.

"What?"

"The dream about the dragon, you say it felt like Ghost." Arthur said as he looked at him eagerly.

"Aye, it was the same but different, the dragon it felt bigger, not just in size but as if it's whole self was bigger, it's hard to explain but it felt as if it, as if I was more ." he said.

"The dreams you used to have of Ghost, did they feel as confusing. Were they as strange before you learned to control him?" Arthur asked.

"I don't control him, it's not how it works, I...I am him." he said and Arthur nodded.

"Were they the same?" Arthur asked and Jon nodded before he realized what Arthur was getting at.

"You think I'm warging a dragon?" he asked incredulously.

"As far as anyone knows there are no dragons, Rhaegar." Arthur said and Jon glared at him "Jon." Arthur said reluctantly.

That had been the one bone of contention between them both, Jon had accepted who he was and that he had a family that he'd not known about. He'd accepted that Rhaegar was his father and Lyanna his mother and that he was more of a Targaryen than he'd ever been a Stark or a Snow. Aemon, Arthur, Howland, and his father's letters all making it clear that everything he'd heard was a lie or truth that was twisted and far from kidnapping his mother, his father had saved her, Jon having the proof of that written in his mother's hand.

While accepting his birthright, his blood, and his family had been easy enough, accepting his name was taking some getting used to. Rhaegar had been his father's name and though he knew now that his mother had named him thus, it still felt odd to hear himself called anything other than Jon or Snow. Arthur would never allow him to think of himself as the latter anymore and so they'd compromised and for now at least, he was still the former. Even if Arthur occasionally slipped and called him Rhaegar occasionally, sometimes on purpose as far as Jon was concerned.

"If there are no dragons, then how could I warg one?" he asked and wasn't sure if he was really saying what he thought he was. Did he actually think he was warging a dragon? Or was he just as confused with that dream as he was about the one with the girl in it?

"I don't know, Jon. Next time you should try and connect more, as you do with Ghost. You should try and at least find out if it's just a dream or if it's more." Arthur said and he nodded.

They put out the fire and mounted up and began to ride once more. After leaving Robb and Riverrun, they'd ridden to Stone Hedge and though the urge was strong in him to ride further east towards the Trident, Nymeria and Ghost brought them south instead. The wolves had avoided High Heart, Arthur had told him tales of the Ghost who lived there and he'd wished to go meet her, but his own Ghost looked at him and Jon could swear he shook his head. Reaching the God's Eye he again felt the urge to go further east, the Isle of Faces was in view and it called to him but once again the wolves headed south.

Each night they'd stop set up their camp and then they'd spar. Arthur putting him on his arse more times than he could count and Jon feeling completely unskilled next to the famed knight. That Arthur insisted he used Blackfyre only making him feel even more inadequate. The blade was a sword of legend much like Ser Arthur's own and it deserved to be wielded by a swordsman of note which he was anything but. Not even Arthur's words of encouragement and telling him that he was improving every day made him feel worthy of the blade. Though he did feel that he was now better than he had been, especially when he tried to incorporate some of the things Arthur told him into the spars.

"We'll camp here." Arthur said and he nodded, they'd left the God's Eye far behind and were heading north once more for some reason.

After an hour or two of sparring, they ate and sat by the fire. Jon once again asking Arthur to tell him about his family and listening intently as he told him about his father, mother, about Elia and his brother and sister. Jon noticing both the sadness and the anger in the knight's voice when he spoke of what had been done to them. It was an anger that he felt himself most keenly, the loss of his brother and sister and their mother something which weighed heavily on him. While Arthur and Howland were at pains to tell him that their deaths were not his father's and mother's fault, Jon had found it wasn't them he blamed, it was himself.

He had lived and they had died, his life not worth his brother and sister's in his mind and it was why he had become even more focused on getting Arya and Sansa back. There was nothing he could do about Aegon or Rhaenys, whatever fate the gods had wished for them had been decided long ago. Wishing he could change things would not make it so, it could not. With Arya and Sansa he could change their fate and he would see them safe. Them first and then the crown, that was the deal he'd made with Ser Arthur and he would show no respite to any who tried to stop him from seeing it done.

"Arthur, Arthur, wake up." he whispered as he shook the knight.

"Rhaegar?" Arthur said looking at him.

"We have company, or soon we will." he said as Arthur woke and sat up.

How the knight went from being asleep to being fully awake so quickly, was something he didn't know but once he'd explained what he'd felt and that the wolves were on their way, Arthur had nodded and told him to unsheathe his sword. The two of them sat by the fire with the swords close to them but looking to all eyes as if they were unarmed and waited for the men to arrive. It had been Ghost who'd warned him of the five men coming their way, his wolf now rushing toward him with one thought in its mind, protect.

"Hello friends." a voice called out and Jon saw Arthur grip his knife while Dawn was close-by ready to be used too, his own hand resting almost on top of the ruby pommel of Blackfyre.

The men who came in close were an odd bunch, there were three only and as he looked at them he saw one of them staring at him with an odd look on his face. When they came closer he heard a gasp from the man who'd been staring at him, his eyes going from his face to Arthur's and back again. The man's yellow cloak was clear now in light from the fire and then Jon heard the man speak.

"Arthur?" the man in the yellow cloak asked, his voice sounding almost pained to Jon's ears.

"Lem, you know these men?" one of the other men asked though the man called Lem didn't reply.

"Arthur, is it truly you?" the man asked and Jon looked to see Arthur nod and reach for Dawn, not lifting the sword but just showing it to the man who then dropped to his knees as he looked to him and not Arthur.

"Your grace." the man said as he looked into Jon's eyes before he bowed his head.

**Riverlands 298 AC (takes place before Jon's pov).**

**Arya.**

She'd seen far too much death already in her short life, her father, her household, Yoren, Woth, Lommy, far too many people she'd seen die before she'd even reached her tenth nameday. She also felt that she may be one of them soon enough, her, Gendry, Hot Pie, all of them would soon be dead given what was happening in the town. They'd escaped one of the seven hells only to be thrust right back into another and not even her list was enough to keep the tears from falling each night.

After seeing her father, well not truly seeing him, but being there when he'd been murdered, Yoren had freed her from King's Landing. She'd been so relieved to finally be heading back to the North and hoped she'd see her family once more, she needed to see them. Arya wanting nothing more than to see Robb, Bran, and Rickon again, to feel her mother's arms as they held her tight and told her that all would be well. To see Jon, to have him muss her hair and call her little sister, to explain to him that she didn't lose Needle, that it was stolen from her.

One night while traveling with Yoren she'd thought of joining the Night's Watch herself. She would pretend she was truly Arry and to go ranging beyond the Wall with Jon. The thought was enough to briefly put a smile on her face and to allow her to forget the sadness that she felt deep in her heart. Soon though even that brief comfort was taken from her as Yoren reminded her of Brave Danny Flint. Not that she would ever get the chance to get to the Wall anyway now that Amory Lorch had seen to Yoren's end.

"Gregor Clegane, Dunsen, Polliver, Chiswyck, Raff the Sweetling, the Tickler, Sandor Clegane, Amory Lorch, Ilyn Payne, Meryn Trant, Joffrey Baratheon, Cersei Lannister." she recited the names before she fell to sleep.

She was woken by Gendry and hit the stupid bull hard in the face for waking her so, as for once the dream she'd been having had been a good one.

"Sorry." he said looking at her and she quickly felt foolish for hitting him.

"What's going on?" she asked worriedly when she heard the screams.

"The Tickler's at work again." Gendry said and she got up and scratched her itchy arse, seeing Gendry's smirk as he looked at her.

"For fuck's sake, you've seen people scratch their damn arses before." she said and his smirk only grew larger.

Ever since he'd found out that not only was she a girl but she was a Lord's daughter, things had been different between them. Where before he saw her as a young boy, he now could only see her as a highborn lady and despite her telling him that was not her, it had changed things between them. Leaving the corner that she slept in, Arya began to go about her daily chores, knowing that you couldn't afford to stand idle while with the Mountain's Men. She'd seen what they did to those they felt weren't pulling their weight and it was not pretty and so she hurried around doing the tasks that had been assigned to her.

The work itself was easy enough, it was trying not to look at what was happening in the town that was hard. Arya having seen things being done to people that she could never imagine and wondering yet again where the gods were in all of this. What was the point in believing in them if they allowed people like Amory Lorch, The Tickler, and others of their ilk to exist? When she was handed the meal to take the Tickler she almost wept, knowing what she was likely to see once she got there.

Less than an hour later she was emptying her stomach and feeling Gendry standing nearby watching her as she did so. That he knew it embarrassed her had annoyed her at first but then she'd realized that as much as he was watching her, he was also watching out for her. Should any of the Mountain's Men see her act in such a way then they'd do everything they could to try and make her do so as often as they could. They'd turn it into one of their games and as bad as that sounded, it was what happened when they wagered on those games and lost that you needed to worry about.

"We're heading off soon." Gendry said as they snuck away from where she'd emptied her stomach.

"How do you know?" she asked.

"They have me shoeing the horses." he said and she nodded.

"The village?"

"Will be lucky not to be put to flame." he said and she gulped.

The village had been thriving once, now it was anything but and those unlucky enough to have been here when the Mountain came had felt the true horrors of the war. Wives and daughters had been raped, children killed and men mutilated and in less than a week the village had lost half its number. In all that time she'd not seen the Mountain who Rides more than once, which had been more than enough. Whatever about the men who served him, just knowing that people like Raff the Sweetling and Polliver were afraid of the Mountain told her all she needed to know about the man himself.

As the day came to an end and she sat down to eat the poor meal that they were given once their work was done, Arya found herself longing for the night to come. Her dreams being her only respite from the nightmare that her days now were. She ate the thin stringy soup and welcomed the bread that Hot Pie snuck her, eating it down quickly so it wouldn't be noticed before she made her way to her corner and curled up into a ball. Reciting her list once more before she fell to sleep and hoped her dreams would be the good ones tonight.

_She ran, the fields open and her quiet brother by her side, the pack not close to full or united as it had once been but she was no longer alone and for that she was grateful. The quiet brother calmed her wild spirit, he allowed her to be who she truly was and stopped her from becoming lost. They hunted together and found taking their prey to be easier when both attacked. The deer had no chance as it looked at her and tried to decide which way to run while her quiet brother made no sound as it came up from behind it._

_When he pounced, she ran, and soon both of them were tearing into deer flesh, the meat filling her senses and removing her hunger. After they'd eaten she looked to her quiet brother and into his deep red eyes, eyes that knew exactly how she felt and that carried the presence of her quiet brother's two-foot within them. Her own two foot was close but still too far away and though she wished to go to her, the quiet brother said no, now was not the time. Not now but soon he'd say and she knew he spoke true._

_Just as he had when he'd found her and bid her join him. When he'd told her they would be a pack once more. Both of them united in their grief over the loss of their soft sister and knowing their swift brother was nearby and alone. Far to the north their wild and wise brothers roamed free and they missed them too but for her, it was her two-foot that she missed most of all. Feeling that her quiet brother missed her too and understanding now because of him, what she had not before. The stones had been to protect and not hurt, to save and not force away. Her_ _two-foot not wishing her to suffer as their soft sister did and so taking that suffering onto herself instead._

_As they ran back to the camp where her quiet brother's_ _two-foot slept, she felt they were even closer now and that soon she and her own two-foot would be together once more._

Arya woke up with a start, the dream still fresh in her mind and the taste of something in her mouth that she didn't enjoy. She quickly drank the water and found that she'd not be allowed to break her fast, instead having to help ready the horses for their departure. As they rode out of the town she looked back to see the flames rise high and then to those who were being brought with them. She tried her best not to think the thoughts she had about those who'd been left behind to burn.

She found though she could not dismiss those thoughts, nor ignore them or pretend they were not what she truly believed. As she looked to see the Mountain riding at the front of their party, to his men riding and laughing behind him and to the faces of those being dragged behind though she found she couldn't fight the thoughts anymore. Those left to burn had gotten off easy, those with them now would only suffer far more and she wondered if she too would suffer just as badly. Closing her eyes though she felt a presence there, a warmth that calmed and soothed her, she felt three sets of eyes looking to her own.

" _Soon." she thought she heard a voice say, a voice she longed to hear once more, a brother she missed terribly._

**Riverlands 298 AC.**

**Cat.**

Jon Snow raised so many mixed emotions within her that at times she couldn't even think straight when it came to the boy. Her anger and shame at his existence only exacerbated by him growing up next to her own children. The worry that she felt that he would try to usurp her children's birthright had been one that had been present for as long as he had. One that had grown as he had and one that had only lessened when he had gone to the Wall.

That he loved her children was never in doubt, even Sansa who treated him as she had herself was loved by him, she knew. He doted on Rickon and Bran and was Robb's closest friend and as for Arya, they were two peas from the same pod both in looks and in how much time they spent together. Yet despite knowing that, it still hadn't allowed her to think of him as anything other than her shame and a threat, illogical though the latter was. If she sat down, if she really thought about it then she knew he posed her children no true threat. Not only would the boy never do anything to harm them but he'd never be in a position too. She had three sons, not one, even were the worst to happen to Robb, there was always Bran and Rickon who'd come ahead of Jon Snow. Sansa and Arya too in the eyes of the king's laws.

She also knew her father and Ned's bannermen would never see him supported over one of her trueborn children, yet she had never managed to remove that little bit of doubt from her head. Never had she been able to come to terms with the fact that her husband had loved another and had brought back a piece of that love with him. Nor had she been able to ignore the wishful looks that Ned had shot Jon Snow's way or the sadness in his eyes when he looked at the boy. So her fears had grown, her anger and shame had grown and over time dare she say it, her hatred of the boy had grown too. Now though as she rode to Bitterbridge she was finding that her views were not aligned with his actions. Her heart finally moving closer to her head and she felt shame and anger now too, though this time it was directed at herself. What he'd said at Riverrun playing over and over in her mind each day they rode.

" _Robb, Robb, what happened, what did the bastard do? What did he say?" she asked worriedly as she ran into the solar._

" _Jon is not a bastard, mother, he's my brother, I'll not have you speak of him that way." Robb said angrily and she nodded, knowing that it wasn't worth the fight._

" _What did he say?" she asked as Edmure and Brynden closed the door behind them and took their seats._

" _He said I was a fool." Robb said his voice dejected._

" _How dare he, I'll have his head for this, just say the word, your grace." Edmure said full of bluster and hot air._

" _Saver your breath for cooling your porridge, and listen before you speak." Brynden said and she looked to see Edmure go red in the face before shrinking back in his seat._

" _Why?" she asked._

" _For sending Theon to speak to his father. Jon…he made some interesting points, points I'd not thought of." Robb said._

_She tried not to bristle at that, she'd raised some interesting points and had been ignored, Robb's friendship with Theon overruling his sense._

" _What points, your grace?" her uncle asked and as Robb spoke on what Jon Snow had sent, Cat found herself nodding along, she'd raised some but he'd raised even more and she worried more now on what Robb had done._

" _We should send some men back, your grace. Your bas…brother spoke truly and I fear on this he may be in the right of things." her uncle said and Robb nodded._

" _Aye, I'll give it some thought. Maybe Lady Dacey and the Smalljon along with some men." Robb said and she breathed a relieved sigh._

" _What else did he say Robb?" she asked still not able to speak his name._

" _He told me to swap the Kingslayer for our sisters, that I'd come south to bring father and the girls home and not to wear a crown and have my arse kissed, or had I?" Robb said and she saw the smirk on her uncle's face._

" _You can't, your grace." Edmure said panicked._

" _Aye, I know I bloody can't, uncle, it doesn't make it any more wrong though does it? I didn't come for a crown, I came for my family. What use am I if I can't see to their safety first and foremost."_

_Cat listened as the back and forth began once more, as Robb seemed to waver where before he'd been adamant and she decided it was for the best if she didn't add her own opinion to the discussion. That she wished Sansa and Arya back no matter the cost was well known to her uncle, brother, and her son. Hearing that Jon Snow had actually called Robb out on not seeing it done both annoyed her greatly and brought her satisfaction in equal measure._

_How dare he speak to her son that way, the voice in her head cried out. Who does he think he is to speak to a king that way, the voice shouted loudly. Yet both times it was drowned out by another louder voice, he cared not about a crown, or status, or propriety, he cared about her daughters, his sisters, and he was willing to shout down a king because of how much he cared. Cat could respect that much about him if nothing else, just as she as a mother would be willing to and had for her girls, Jon Snow as their brother had done likewise._

" _Where is he gone now, Robb?" she asked and saw the smile that quickly appeared on an otherwise sad face._

" _To bring them home." Robb said and her heart almost stopped._

She had tuned out the rest of the conversation, her brother calling what Jon Snow was doing a fool's errand while her uncle saying that sometimes one man could do what an army could not. When they'd left she spoke to Robb and offered him what comfort she could give. Then she'd stood beside him as they watched Jon Snow and his companion ride off. The two wolves walked beside them and she looked to Robb who seemed to wish to be riding with them too.

Cat hadn't stayed too long in Riverrun after that, she'd gone to see the Kingslayer once more and then readied her party to ride to Bitterbridge. Each day bringing her closer to Renly Baratheon and further from her children and giving her time to think more and more. Time to reflect on her interactions with Jon Snow and to see them for what they were. She'd never been overly cruel, never struck the boy, or denied him any more than she should. His place at the High Table when Lords would visit and her affections most of all were the height of her actions against him.

Though looking back on it now, she knew how powerful a look could be, how much one could say without words, and how clear she'd made her disdain of his presence clear. She'd sought to see him removed more than once, to be kept from her children more than once, and had even gone so far as to wish him dead more than once. Yet that very same boy had shamed her son and proved more a brother to her girls than he. Bran's letter to her showing that it wasn't only his sister's that Jon cared for in such a manner.

When they reached the Stoney Sept she was surprised to see the village in such decent shape, they'd heard reports of the Lannister's sacking villages and towns and yet it was so far remarkably untouched. They stayed at the Peach, a tavern she thought at first but a brothel she soon found out much to her everlasting shame. She ate and slept and before leaving the next morning had one of the guards take her to the small Sept so she could pray and light a candle.

"I beseech the Mother to give me strength and the Father to give my son wisdom. I beseech the Maiden to look after my girls and the Warrior to give their brother the strength to find and protect them. I beg the Crone to grant him the knowledge to rescue them unharmed and the Smith to give him the tools needed to do so." she said as she lit each of the candles.

She moved to the Stranger and looked up as she lit the candle in front of him, the prayer she offered him was slightly different and much different to the one she'd offered him many years earlier.

"I prayed to you once to take the life of a child, I beg you now please don't grant me that wish. Let him be safe, let him see my girls safe, I beg of you." she said lighting the candle

Cat could only hope her prayers were heard as she left the Sept and continued on her way.

**Riverlands 298 AC.**

**Arthur.**

He looked at the man in front of him, the man who was now down on one knee and who was swearing allegiance to a king that only three other men knew about. Lem they'd called him, yet that was not the man's name and Arthur had thought he'd seen a ghost when he'd looked upon Ser Richard Lonmouth once more. Who these other men were he knew not and nor did he care, whatever reasons they had for coming to them were gone now. He was about to say something when he saw Jon look to Ser Richard and then to him and he knew then the wolves were close.

"Your other men, tell them to come out from the trees if you value their lives." Arthur said to Richard.

"Anguy, Harwin." Richard called and an archer and another man came out from amongst the trees.

"Lower your bow." Arthur said and the man did that and then Arthur caught Jon look at the other man.

"Jon? Jon Snow?" Harwin asked and Jon smiled as he looked at him.

"Harwin, it is you, thank the gods." Jon said standing to his feet and Arthur heard the gasps when the men and especially Richard saw the sword, his former friend looking his way and seeing the small nod he gave.

Arthur smiled to see how warmly Jon welcomed Harwin and then looked on as he turned to the others and bid them relax as the wolves came into view. Ghost and Nymeria both walking towards him and licking each of his hands softly.

"Are they? By the gods, look at the size of them. Harwin said.

"Aye, they're not pups anymore." Jon said with a smirk.

They sat around and spoke and Arthur found out that Richard was calling himself Lem Lemoncloak and that these men were part of a Brotherhood without Banners. A group that had been formed out of the remnants of men that had been sent to bring the Mountain to justice, something that should have been done many years ago he felt. When they told them they were camped in some caves nearby, Arthur felt no desire to go speak to them. Yet for some reason Jon did and after Richard assured them of their safety, though the wolves would see to that he knew, they followed them back to the caves.

Arthur finally getting the chance to speak to Richard alone and to find out about the man's own history as they walked with their horses.

"I fell, Arthur, for the longest time after I wasn't even sure who I was, and by the time I knew I was Richard Lonmouth the world was much different place." Richard said showing him the large scar on the back of his head.

"How long?" he asked.

"Almost three years, oh I walked and talked, fought and hunted but I was no one, even these clothes belonged to someone else and so after three years of being Lem Lemoncloak I found I'd no wish to be Ser Richard Lonmouth anymore."

"You could have gone to Essos." he said and Richard laughed though not mirthfully.

"As could you, Arthur." he said and Arthur laughed a little louder and far truer.

"I did, more than once." he said and Richard looked at him surprised.

"I had thought?" Richard said looking to Jon.

"No, I've only been with him for a little over a moon or so." he said.

"Is he, is he truly who I think he is?" Richard asked hopefully.

"Did you not think of that when you knelt?" he asked curiously.

"I believed I was looking at Rhaegar's son and my knees bent before I knew what I was doing." Richard said.

"He's true, Richard, Rhaegar Targaryen the first of his name." he said softly seeing his old friend's smile.

He told him the tale then, of the Tower of Joy and of what had happened after. Watching as his friend grew angry when he spoke of Ned Stark and of him allowing the king to go to the Wall. His friend smiled when he told of him of his mad dash to reach it before Rhaegar could swear his oath and when he spoke of the boy himself he knew for certain they'd not leave as just two men when they departed. Richard Lonmouth would serve Rhaegar Targaryen once more, that much was clear to him as for these others that was still to be known.

"Blackfyre?" Richard asked.

"The Golden Company had it in their possession, in rested in the hands of a Toyne." he said to another laugh from Richard.

"I take it the Toyne breathes no more, Arthur."

"A tale for another time, Richard, and we'll have plenty of time to share them all." he said seeing Richard nod.

The caves the Brotherhood made their camp in were large and comfortable enough, Arthur soon being introduced to the others and finding one, in particular, look their way. Thoros of Myr the man's name was and he stared far too keenly at Jon for his liking. The man was a red priest and Arthur had seen some of his kind before while he was in Essos. As for Jon, he'd found more former Winterfell men and was speaking to them while the two wolves acted as his Kingsguard and kept him more protected than even he could.

"Ser Arthur Dayne, as I live and breath." Thoros said walking his way with another man who wore a bandage around his eye.

"Ser Arthur." the other man said his voice softer and quieter than the red priest's.

"Arthur, Lord Beric Dondarrion the leader of the Brotherhood without Banners." Richard said and Arthur bid the man hello.

"My lord." he said and the man gave him a nod.

"We heard you had died?" Harwin said as he, Jon, and some others came his way.

"Aye, Lord Stark beat you at the Tower of Joy." another man said.

"Did you rise like our lord?" another man called out and Arthur looked at them all confused.

Arthur sat down to tell as much of his tale as he was willing to do and then heard an even stranger one in return. One of a man who'd died and risen to live once more and were it not for Richard's presence, he'd not have believed a word that was being said. He was stunned to find a small boy moving quickly towards him when some others came back from hunting or gathering food, the boy having deep blue eyes and hair as pale and blond as his own.

"Are you really, him?" the boy asked nervously, Arthur surprised to see there were tears in the boy's eyes.

"I am Ser Arthur Dayne." he said and the boy grabbed him in an embrace, Arthur ready to push him away until he heard the words he spoke.

"Uncle, you're my uncle. I'm Ned, Vorian's son." the boy said tearfully, and then Arthur hugged him back.

Lord Beric, it turned out was to marry his sister Allyria and young Ned had been taken on as his squire, Arthur promising the lad he'd not leave until he spoke to him and Beric telling Ned to go get some rest. Once he had, Jon, Harwin, and the others sat around and Arthur saw more than one look to Jon and to Blackfyre which rested on his hip.

"The sword, Ser Arthur, how? Where?" Lord Beric asked and Arthur knew then he had to speak on it.

"A few years ago a friend of mine had a vision of that sword and told me where to find it." Arthur said seeing how Beric and Thoros looked at each other.

"Where?" Jon asked, having not heard the tale yet either.

"Tyrosh."

_**291 AC.** _

_He felt like he was on a fool's errand, just as he had been the last time he'd come to Essos. Then it was to find he was too late and that they were already gone. Now he was here to find a sword that was in the hands of a man who didn't own it. Howland had been certain though, Blackfyre was here, and though it would be difficult to get, he had come and get it he would. So he'd set sail and arrived to find the city encircled by the Golden Company, the contracts already being signed for the war to come._

_As he sat drinking in the tavern's he heard the tales, stories that the Captain-General wielded a famed blade and that soon enough the Golden Company would be facing its greatest threat. Arthur had then done his best to get close to the company and the man and found to his dismay that he wasn't welcome near either. So days had turned to weeks and he'd all but given up. Then the Dothraki had arrived and he knew then he had one chance to see this done. Riding out to speak to the Khal who led it and hoping the translator he'd brought was good and true._

_That he was welcomed by the Khal was no doubt due to the blade he bore, Dawn drawing ever appreciative eyes and he offered the Khal his blade for the fight to come under one condition. He was unsurprised to be tested and whether or not the man was a gifted warrior among the Khalasar or a sacrificial lamb he couldn't be sure. Only that he died quickly and his Arahk never even came close to Arthur's chest._

" _The Khal says he will accept your offer to fight by his side Arthur the Andal, he will see your blade the color of the moon goddess is covered in the red blood of his enemies and should you face this man of the Black Heart and beat him, then his blade is yours to keep." the translator said and Arthur nodded._

" _Tell the great Khal Bharbo that I look forward to drenching my blade in the blood of the Golden Men." he said seeing the Khal laugh when the translator did as he bid._

_Riding with a Dothraki Horde was a once in a lifetime opportunity and he felt a poor horseman in comparison. The men charging and firing their arrows and the Golden Company standing and holding firm. He saw the banner with the skulls, heard the roar of the elephants as they charged and diverted from his direction, and headed to the flowing Blackheart banner. Dawn sang as it cut through people, men who'd expected to face Dothraki not able to match the charge of his horse and not expecting any to attack this way._

_When he reached the tent he saw the man's eyes light up when he saw the white of his sword and the purple stars on his Kingsguard armor. Then three men came his way and Dawn dispatched them all with ease, Arthur sidestepping and swinging at the same time, each swing of his sword taking a man's life as he moved closer to Ser Myles Toyne._

" _Dayne." the Blackheart shouted._

" _Toyne." he shouted back._

_Dawn crashed against Blackfyre and Arthur wondered if Barristan had faced a truer foe when he'd face Ser Simon Toyne when they'd been dispatched to end the Kingswood's brotherhood's reign of terror. Not that it made much of a difference as very soon it became clear that not only did Ser Myles not own the sword he wielded, he didn't deserve to wield such a blade at all. Arthur taking first the arm that held the sword and then the head of the man who'd dare to wield it. He picked up the blade of kings and looked around ready for more to fight, looking on as the battle reached its end._

_There would be no winner here this day, both sides suffering equally in defeat and later on, he'd find out that Bharbo himself had fallen. Arthur though melted away, taking his horse and riding off and soon taking the first ship back to Westeros that he could. He had the sword now and all that remained was for the king to come and claim it and Arthur could only hope that would be soon._

**Now.**

Though he'd told them the tale, he'd left some parts out, his waiting for the king he'd share with Jon and Richard at a later time, instead, he looked on as people seemed awed by what he did when in truth he'd not did much at all. He'd killed less than half a dozen men that day, poor fighters each of them, and he had earned no glory in doing so. Though it had not been that he'd gone there for and so he'd cared not for anything other than the end result. Seeing the sword now resting on the hip of the one true king was glory enough for him.

After the others had taken to their beds, Richard had sat with him some more. His old friend asking him more and more questions that he answered as best he could before Richard then took out a crumpled letter from inside his shirt.

"Rhaegar gave this to me before the battle, it's the last song he ever wrote." Richard said sadly as Arthur looked at the paper and then at Jon who still slept soundly between the two wolves nearby.

Opening it up he read it and felt the tears ready to fall, handing it back to Richard and motioning to Jon.

"Give it to him when he awakes, tell him what it is." he said and Richard nodded.

"Will you take me with you when you leave, is there a place for me by his side?" Richard asked, Arthur, seeing the desperate look in his eyes.

"There is great danger where we go Richard, more so than you face here. I'll see him crowned no matter the cost." he said and Richard nodded "Then it'll be good to ride with you once more old friend." he said reaching out his hand and gripping the other man's hand firmly.

**Riverlands 298 AC.**

**Jon Snow.**

Finding Harwin and Alyn amongst these men was a welcome surprise and when he told them both that he'd spoken to Robb and what he was planning to do, he received warm looks and well wishes from each of them. Lem Lemoncloak though was a strange one to him, the man had knelt and called him your grace and seemed very friendly with Arthur too. He looked over to him constantly as well and Jon knew that he had to have been connected to his father in some way. What way exactly or what that meant from now on, that much he didn't know for now at least.

The strangest of them all though was the man who led the Brotherhood and who all he'd spoken to had said came back from death itself, him and the man who supposedly had brought him back. Both of them spent far too much time looking his way and only the wolves not seeming to think them a danger had kept him relaxed when they did so. That almost everyone wished to look at his sword was not a surprise, though the young boy he'd found out was Arthur's nephew was far more interested in Dawn, which was something he could understand.

His sleep that night was disturbed, it wasn't a dream of the silver-haired shadow and instead the ones of the dragon that came his way. Jon trying what Arthur had said and felt both welcome and not, as he was almost forced from the dragon's mind. It was as if he was allowed entry but only to a point and he didn't know if he was being refused forever or just for now. What he did know was that if the dragon wasn't real, if it truly didn't exist then this was the oddest feeling he'd ever felt. The size, the movements, the view from what was clearly the sky, the confinement of being in a cave, all of it feeling far more real to him than all but the silver-haired shadow dreams and the dreams he had of Ghost.

"Wake up." he heard the voice say and he looked up to see the bearded face of Thoros of Myr leaning over him, Ghost and Nymeria resting comfortably on either side of him and neither making a move to stop the red pries from waking him.

"What? Has something happened? Is something wrong?" he asked and Thoros chuckled and shook his head.

"It's time to look into the fire." Thoros said and Jon looked at him as if he was mad.

"What?"

"The answers you seek are in the fire." another voice said and he looked to ser Lord Beric sitting facing him.

He was about to call them both mad but something made him stop and he looked to see the fire that was burning a little way behind the lord. Nodding his head he got up and followed Thoros over and looked to the man seeking an explanation of some sort, only to find him just looking into the flames. Shaking his head, Jon moved closer and looked deep into the fire too, feeling a fool for doing so until the flames began to change and the vision soon became clear.

_The camp was large and the girl moved amongst the men who sat around it, the pouch in her hand heavy as she filled mug after mug. Her hair was cut short and she was dressed as a boy but her eyes, the way she moved, and then the full view of her face when the moon caught it marked her out as his little sister. Another girl was screaming as she was being dragged away by some of the men and the man who then moved in front of Arya was the largest he'd ever seen._

_Then they were riding and once again they stopped and made camp, this time the trees around them offering them cover. Jon could see her, laying on the ground shivering and scared, and then it was as if he was flying once more. Looking down on the area surrounding the woods and seeing the road and what lay around it even more clearly. Higher he seemed to fly and he was traveling overland and then the sea, which direction he was going in not one he was sure about but it seemed as if he was heading north._

_The cave was dark and yet he felt the need to see what was inside, looking on as he saw himself walking in, and then he was looking through what he assumed was his own eyes. Soon his eyes weren't the only ones he saw as a set of larger almost bright yellow eyes came out of the darkness and he reached his hand out to feel the warmth of something brushing up against him. The dragon's head finally visible as it rubbed up against him and the noise it made sounding happy to his ears._

Almost as soon as it had appeared, the vision was soon gone and Jon was left looking into the fire and seeing nothing but the flames that were there. He turned to Thoros and Beric and found both men looking at him intently, the red priest even more so than the lord.

"You saw?" Thoros asked eagerly and Jon nodded.

"The dragon, you saw the black dragon?" Beric asked.

"I did."

He watched as both men look at each other and then he looked on in shock as the two of them took a knee. Jon not sure what to make of it and only the fact Arthur had woken and that he and Lem were coming over to him stopped him from fleeing in his confusion. The presence of his Kingsguard almost making him feel that this was right and as if this was the start of things.

"The Brotherhood is yours, my prince." Beric said.

"Where you lead we will follow, Rhaegar." Thoros said and Jon turned to Arthur who looked both worried and pleased at the same time.

"Did you see the same as me?" he asked and both men nodded.

"Aye." Lord Beric said.

"The girl and the Black Dragon." Thoros said making it clear they'd seen it all.

"It's to the girl that we ride." Jon said and both men hurried off to make preparations for their departure.

As soon as they were moving away from him Jon turned to an inquisitive looking Arthur and began to explain all he'd seen, Lem looking on curiously as he did so. Once he was done, Arthur told him the truth of who Lem really was, and once again the man was on his knees, this time swearing his blade and his life in service to the one true king. It was overwhelming and yet at the same time gratifying to know that there were men willing to do so just based on the name he carried. That he and Arthur had started out alone and now had men willing to fight alongside them and finding his sisters and seeing to their release suddenly feeling a more realistic proposition.

Over fifty men rode out from the caves that day, riding hard and heading North as Jon sent Ghost and Nymeria on ahead of them to scout the way. He offered up a prayer to the old gods that he'd find her soon and that she'd be unharmed and he swore to make any who caused her pain suffer.

"I'm coming little sister." he said as the horse rode fast.

**Skagos 298.**

_Many years ago when he'd been a hatchling he'd felt how he did now. The world was new and full of possibilities and he like his brothers and sisters would soon be complete. He'd fly the sky with his bonded and together they'd see different lands or fly over seas and lakes. They'd explore as much of this world as they could and share everything with each other as only a dragon and its bonded could._

_As the years went on and he began to realize that his bonded had not yet been born, his first reaction had been anger and so he had lashed out without meaning to. Later this had changed to sadness and then over time that sadness only grew as he realized that while there was a rider out there for him, the time for them to be together wasn't now. Things had changed for him once he'd known this, his priority had been to survive, to wait as long as was needed for his rider to come, and to survive meant that he needed magic and more of it than he had._

_So he had tried to find it anywhere he could. He'd flown back to their home and though the magic there was strong, it was corrupted too and he knew that if he stayed too long alone then he too would be as broken and damaged as that place now was. Only while bonded could he withstand the darkest of its magic's, only together could they travel the lands of their home and not be devoured by it. He'd flown further then, on to the east, and had felt places that had magic in them too. Some had strengthened him and some he'd avoided after feeling the same corruption he'd felt in their home._

_One day he'd come back to these places her knew, though that day was many years in the future and he wouldn't be alone when he did so. On and on he flew and he grew stronger and yet not strong enough, finally turning and flying West once more. The magic was stronger here, where the dragons roamed freest of all and he felt the need, the desire, and then finally the call to do what needed to be done. He had to become what he must in order to be ready for his rider when their time was upon them._

_It had been needed._

_Necessary._

_They would never have hatched._

_He told himself many things to justify what he'd done to the eggs, but soon even their magic was not enough and that was when The Cannibal was truly born._

_Flying through the air he tried not to remember all he'd done just to be here now. He tried not to think about the lives he'd ended until he found that the dead worked just as well if not better. He thought instead about his rider and how fir the first time a rider was trying to reach out to him just as he was trying to reach out to his rider. He'd felt him, in his head he'd felt him and he was almost certain now that this could only be true. That he had waited long enough and the time was soon to be upon him. His rider was soon to call out his name and the skies were to be their playground._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Up Next Jon learns things about his father from Ser Richard and receives a gift in the shape of his father’s final written words. Robb makes plans and feels regret. Dany finds out the warning about the warlocks was an apt one and has a vision. Sansa suffers in King’s Landing and Jon, Arthur and the Brotherhood catch up with the Mountain’s Men.


	3. The Mountain and the Manticore.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jon Learns things about his father from Ser Richard and receives a gift in the shape of his father's final written words. Dany finds the warning about the Warlocks to be an apt one and has a vision or two. Sansa suffers in King's Landing and Jon, Arthur and the Brotherhood catch up with the Mountain and his men.

**The Riverlands 298 AC.**

**Jon Snow.**

He sparred with Ser Arthur and listened as the man gave him pointers and corrected some of his movements. The knight changing his stance from front on to side on and telling him to use his speed far more than his strength. It was something he'd always relied on to be true but he'd been trying to incorporate more power into his swings. Something that Arthur told him was unneeded, especially given the sword he wielded.

Blackfyre was lighter than normal steel, it was a bastard sword that he surprisingly adapted to almost immediately. When Arthur showed him how true the edge on the blade worked compared to the edge on a normal steel sword, he finally understood. Normal steel required far more power in its blows to cause the same damage that Valyrian Steel did. Arthur telling him that he himself had far more trouble making the leap from using a normal sword to Dawn than Jon was having with Blackfyre.

The knight wasn't one for simply throwing out compliments either Jon had found. He'd half expected that because he named him his king and he was the son of a man who was as close a brother to him, that he'd compliment him constantly. It's what those who followed after royalty did after all as Jon had learned from seeing the crown prince and king at Winterfell. Apparently, though it was not and it was certainly not Ser Arthur's way. Every compliment Jon got was earned and every rebuke listened to.

"That's it, use the spins more to get away, Rhaegar, in time you can use them to attack." Arthur said as Jon spun away from the blade.

"Why not use them to attack?" he asked as he took up his stance once more.

"Try it." Arthur said and Jon did as he was bid.

The fall winded him and was the end of their morning's spar, Arthur reaching down to help him back to his feet. As soon as he had spun in and brought his sword in an arc to attack he'd been tripped and Blackfyre was on the ground a few feet away from him. Arthur explaining to him how he needed to learn to gain his footing faster when he landed and that doing so as he backed away, kept what he'd just done to him from happening. Jon listened eagerly as always, each day he trained with the man he felt himself get better and he'd been able to beat all but two of those who were with the Brotherhood. Lord Beric even falling to his blade, only Thoros and Ser Richard and Arthur of course were now better than him. Jon felt he was closing in fast on those two also though as only a few days earlier Beric had been better too.

"You feel up to another, your grace?" he heard Ser Richard ask and saw Arthur shake his head, Jon deciding the knight knew better than he.

"Not for now, Ser Richard but perhaps we could speak?" he said and saw Arthur's approving nod.

"I'd very much like that your grace. Richard said before moving closer to him.

Arthur had told him that his father's former squire wished to speak to him and that he had something from his father for him. As much as he'd wanted to do so immediately, to talk to a man who knew his father as well as Ser Arthur almost and to find out what it was he had, Jon was nervous too. Some of the men who'd served in his uncle's guard and had traveled with him to King's Landing were uncomfortable at how quickly Jon had accepted he wasn't Ned Starks son. Hearing him and Arthur speak of his father or him being called Rhaegar garnering him some strange looks. Jon almost feeling as if they were judging him for abandoning the man who'd raised him.

That Arthur pulled no punches when he spoke of his uncle and that Jon never once defended him, only added to their discomfort he imagined. On that point, though Arthur was right and Howland had also explained what his uncle had done. How he'd denied him the knowledge of who he truly was, had kept him from knowing his mother lay not more than a few feet from him, and had allowed and even encouraged him to almost throw his life away at the Wall. To Jon, these were far worse than what he knew Arthur hated Ned Stark for. While he too wasn't happy he had been denied his birthright, it was more the other more personal things that made him think of his uncle how he did now.

"I'll leave you two alone." Arthur said as he walked away, by alone he off course meant a few feet and not out of sight Jon had come to realize, he was a Kingsguard after all.

"You squired for my father, Ser Richard." he said a way to start the conversation rather than a question.

"Me and Myles Mooton, your father gave us both our spurs, and being almost of an age we stayed as friends." Richard said.

"What was he like?" he asked, even though Howland, his father's letters, and Ser Arthur had all given him a good enough description, Jon found himself keen for more.

"He was quiet and oft prone to melancholy, your grace. He rarely smiled but when he did it was a wondrous sight. You may have heard him described as being sad, I know some of the Maesters who dared write of him with the Stag on the throne named him such but he was far from it. Don't get me wrong, he wasn't a man prone to laughter, but he was happy at times too." Richard said looking off into the distance as if he was looking at the memory itself.

"My mother?" he asked.

"Made him happy, your grace. Truly happy. I wasn't as close to your father then, I mean I was but there was only one man he truly shared his thoughts with." Richard said looking to Ser Arthur.

"You were at Harrenhal?" he asked and Richard nodded.

"The Knight of the Laughing Tree." Richard said with a chuckle "Your mother led us on a merry chase your grace, I, other knights, The Stag." Richard said bitterly.

"You and Robert were friends were you not?" he said with no accusation meant, just repeating something that Howland had said.

"To my everlasting shame. Though we were more drinking partners than friends, I enjoyed an ale and the Stag did too, we were young and foolish your grace, young and foolish. At Harrenhal I was drinking with Robert when Aerys ordered the Knight of the Laughing Tree brought to him, like most young and foolish men, I saw glory and acclaim and sought to find her, Robert by my side. Thank R'hllor I did not." Richard said looking down to the ground.

"When did you know it was my mother?"

"When your father crowned her, your grace. Your father wasn't a rash man, his actions to others may have seemed so but your father never made a move he didn't consider more than once. For him to crown your mother instead of Elia, aye, love played its part no doubt, but he was also rewarding her for standing for honor in the joust. I saw it then and knew it to be true." Richard said with a smile.

"Did they..were they…do you think they were happy?" he asked shakily.

"I never saw your mother after Harrenhal your grace so I cannot say for sure though I believe she was. As for your father, there were only three times in my life that I saw him show true happiness. When your sister was born, when your brother was and the day he crowned your mother. They were happy your grace, I'd stake my life on it." Richard said his voice leaving no room for doubt.

"Thank you Ser, For the talk, for being beside him on the Trident." he said standing up and reaching out to place a hand on Richard's shoulder.

"Your grace. Before the Trident, your father, he wrote this. It's the last song he ever put to paper, perhaps the last words even." Richard said reaching into his shirt to take out a piece of old parchment "I was called to his tent the night before we rode and he handed it to me, asked me to deliver it to Ser Arthur when next I saw him, that Arthur would know what to do with it. I believe and Ser Arthur does too that it was meant for you."

Jon took the piece of parchment and walked a few feet down to the stream. Sitting down on a rock as he carefully opened it. He'd been given letters his father had written and found himself mentioned in some of them, albeit only in generalities. His mother was too but again nothing that truly gave an insight into how his father truly thought of her. Jon wondered if this would as he looked down on the parchment.

_There's no time for us  
There's no place for us  
What is the thing  
That builds our dreams  
Yet slips away from us?_

_Who wants to live forever  
Who wants to live forever?_

_There's no chance for us  
It's all decided for us  
This world has only  
One sweet moment  
Set aside for us_

_Who wants to live forever  
Who wants to live forever?_

_Who dares to love forever  
When love must die?_

_But touch my tears  
With your lips  
Touch my world  
With your fingertips_

_And we can have forever  
And we can love forever_

_Forever is our today_

How long he sat there he couldn't tell, nor how many tears fell from his eyes. That he was left alone to let them all fall was something he was very grateful for. Standing up he folded the parchment and placed it inside his shirt and walked back to the camp, Ser Arthur joining him as he did so. They broke their fast and readied to mount up and as he did so he closed his eyes and reached out to Ghost and Nymeria. The two wolves had found them and they were less than three days away. Jon nodding determinedly to himself when he opened his eyes and mounted up. He could do nothing about the past other than remember it and learn lessons from it. The future though was unwritten and while his father and mother's had been stolen from them, his had not.

**The West 298 AC.**

**Robb.**

The march through the West had been quick and mainly undisturbed, Robb taking a large force and heading to the Golden Tooth. His mind split all the while with the plans he needed to make, for taking the keep to gain access to the West, the men he'd sent North and the words his brother had spoken to him when last they'd talked. Jon's words being the ones he'd most focussed on much to his dismay. Not that he shouldn't give them weight but because he was no nearer to a plan to take the Golden Tooth because of them.

He'd sent, Dacey, the Smalljon, and Donnel Locke and had placed them under the command of Ser Wendel Manderly. The knight at first refusing until Robb had personally told him how important his mission was. Were it not for Jon's words and the strength of the conviction behind them, he'd not have sent any of them but once he decided that his brother was right, he needed to make the right choices. Both men and women in Dacey's case who were capable of protecting the North and politically in Ser Wendel's case, ones he could ill afford to lose in the south.

Would that he could send Harrion Karstark or Ser Wylis or that Eddard and Torrhen lived still, then he'd have sent them rather than others. But he could only do what he could do and he hoped it was enough or that Jon was wrong, something he feared he already knew he was not. The small force and the ravens he sent would ready the North, his job was to now ready the rest of its men and take the West.

As their camp was set up a few miles from the Golden Tooth, Robb sat in his tent and poured over the maps and the drawings. The Blackfish and his outriders had ridden to the Golden Tooth and made some of the keep and its surrounding roads. Robb almost crying out in frustration as he looked at them and found no way past or around and began to think of the losses he'd suffer in taking the keep itself. He ate, drank sparingly, and went to his bed, closing his eyes and soon falling asleep. The dreams came to him as soon as he did so and Robb welcomed being in his wolf's skin once more.

_The smell of goat had attracted him and he'd come to hunt, eating the first two and moving on, the trail open and wide as he moved through the mountain. It was thirst that drove him now and not hunger and he could almost smell the freshwater ahead of him, Grey Wind running the last few feet down the hill when he saw the stream. As he quenched his thirst he looked over his head to see the large stone cave that the two foots made their lair and it made him think of his brothers and his sister._

_The wise brother and the wild brother were far away but his fierce sister and quiet brother were together and he could feel their anger and eagerness as they drew ever close to the fierce sister's two-foot. Grey Wind feeling the loss of his soft sister as much as he welcomed knowing that the rest of the pack lived still. He drank his fill and turned to walk the path back to his two-foot, eager to be close to him once more._

"Your grace, your grace." Robb heard the voice call out as his eyes opened and he looked to see Olyvar standing there looking down at him.

"What is it, has something happened?" he said jumping up and reaching for his sword.

"No your grace, you were making strange sounds, I was worried." Olyvar said and Robb nodded as he sat up.

"Bad dreams, Olyvar, just bad dreams." he said though they were anything but.

He quickly grabbed some water and drank it down before stepping from the tent to see that it was still dark, Robb then hurrying to his uncle's tent. That the Blackfish wasn't asleep was no surprise nor was his quick acceptance of his request, his uncle mounting up with a half dozen of his men and riding off while the night's cover still allowed for it. The wait until he returned was an agonizing one and Grey Wind arrived back before he did. The wolf leaning into him as he sat by the fire alone.

"Aye, I miss them too. He'll bring them back boy, Jon doesn't know how to fail." he said rubbing the wolf's head.

To others, that may seem like wishful thinking and he knew that while his mother was hopeful that Jon would succeed, she didn't truly believe he would. Robb felt differently, Jon had always been determined but he'd never seen him how he had been when he'd arrived at Riverrun. There was something different about him, he was more confident, more assured, and even more determined and nothing or no one other than the Stranger himself would stop him.

"Riders your grace." Olyvar said and he stood up to see the Blackfish and his men riding back in, the sun just beginning to rise over the hills behind them.

Robb hurried to speak to his uncle and found that he was indeed right, Grey Wind had found a path through the mountains and so arrangements were made to use it once night fell. When night fell they managed to bring the entire army through without incident. Robb noticing the appreciative looks he got from his commanders while he shared his own with Grey Wind. He sent the wolf on ahead of them along with The Blackfish's outriders. The men and the wolf soon bringing him back the news he had hoped for.

"How many?" he asked as they camped just east of Oxcross.

"Twice our number at least your grace." one of the men said.

"Ten thousand infantry, three thousand horse. Green boys and greybeards, your grace." Ser Brynden said his uncle cutting right to the heart of the matter.

"Banners?" he asked.

"Crakehall, Jast, Lannister, Brax, and Vikary." his uncle said.

"We attack at nightfall." he said sending his commanders to ready the men and asking his uncle to stay and speak with him a bit.

He took a seat and bid the Blackfish do likewise, pouring his uncle an ale himself and readying to speak to him of Jon and what his brother was doing.

"King's Landing, uncle, the Red Keep, you've been?" he asked.

"A few times your grace, when Lord Arryn was Hand."

"How secure it is? Not from an attack mind, but could one man get in and out, two?" he asked.

"Perhaps, but to what end?" his uncle asked.

"My brother, he's gone to rescue my sisters." he said raising his hand to stop Brynden from speaking "I know you've only heard of him from my mother and what you may think of him based on his birth, but he's my brother, my true brother." he said almost wistfully as he thought of Theon and that he may be betraying him as they spoke.

"I know not your brother, your grace. No more than what Cat has told me, Aye, and were he not the shame of my niece, I'd not care about his birth. One man who knew the Red Keep could perhaps get in, he could perhaps even make it close enough to see your sisters. To make it out, to get them out, that's a fool's errand and there's only one outcome I can see." his uncle said shaking his head.

"You don't know Jon, uncle, he's no fool and at least he's trying to do what I should have done myself." he said regretting he was not with Jon or he with him.

That night he sat on his horse looking down at the camp in the valley below. There were no sentries, no guards and as he pulled his sword he gave the order, the horse, Grey Wind, and he all ready to do their part. As he rode he felt a shiver run down his spine, an image forming in his head of Jon on a horse with Ghost and Nymeria beside him as they rode down a hill as well.

**King's Landing 298 AC.**

**Tyrion.**

He'd arrived thankfully with his father's authority and to serve in his stead as Hand, had he not then he would probably have already been killed by now. As it was he wasn't even certain the pin actually offered him any true protection which was why he was relieved to have the hill tribes and Bronn by his side. The sellsword in particular being a far better deterrent to those that wished him harm than even his father's words or pin were.

His nephew was both cruel and a fool, his sister's son in every respect, and as for Cersei, she was as she had always been, spoiled, vindictive, and far less clever than she thought she was. So from the moment he'd gotten here, he'd been slowly taking away their power while increasing his own. He'd sent Slynt to the Wall and was now about to deal with another odious little toad. He almost skipped so happy was he to find out it was Pycelle. Varys was far too useful and Littlefinger while annoying at least brought something to the table. Pycelle though was too much his father's man which made him his sister's and that was something he couldn't let stand.

"You're sure about this my lord?" Bronn asked as they walked, Tyrion greatly appreciating the way the man asked a question. There was no doubt in his words, more a simple is this the right move in the game, a game that Bronn was far more adept at playing than a sellsword usually was.

"Very sure." he said as his guards opened the door.

Seeing the Grandmaester in his rooms with a whore was no great surprise. Tyron quickly having him dragged from his bed and sending the whore on her way with some silver to buy her silence. He sat in the chair and waited for Pycelle to try and claim his innocence, the man not letting him down as he blamed others for his actions. It hadn't even required a particularly clever plan on his part, a simple bait and switch and it was done.

"Varys, it was Varys." Pycelle said and Tyrion nodded before telling him how it could only have been him.

"I told Varys I was sending the princess to the Greyjoys, you were the only one I told I was sending her to Dorne." he said seeing the panic in the man's eyes.

As they walked from the room a few moments later he whistled, another obstacle taken away, and should he work it right then the man the Citadel sent would owe his position to him. Perhaps taking Pycelle's beard was a bit much but then again he'd at least left the old fool his cock, he thought with a chuckle that Bronn noticed.

"Something funny?" Bronn asked.

"I've found there is always something funny, something to laugh at it, usually it's me." he said chuckling some more.

"If things keep going as they are then none of us will be laughing for much longer." Bronn said ruining his mood.

That he spoke the truth was the main reason for that, Stannis and Renly Baratheon were soon to meet and he could only hope the brother's animosity kept them from joining forces, that and perhaps the Roses' ambitions. If Varys's little birds were to be believed and he had no doubt they were then Robb Stark had marched into the West, something his father would not take lightly. Pulling at the lion's tail was one thing, sticking your head in his mouth and not expecting to get bit was quite another. Though it seemed the Young Wolf had his father's measure for the now, as well as holding his father's son hostage.

Tyrion constantly found himself more worried about Jaime than even his own safety. He had Bronn and his men, Jaime had nothing and if his nephew wasn't stopped then he'd suffer because of it. Joffrey not understanding that if word got back to the Starks of how he treated Sansa, there was a damned good chance that Jaime would suffer too. On that at least he had Cersei's ear, the thoughts of her golden twin suffering, not ones she could countenance.

As for Sansa Stark, would that she was a boy he thought, only to chuckle at the image of her as anything but the lady she was. The simple truth was that were she one of the boys then perhaps a trade could be made for Jaime. Her being a daughter rather than a son just didn't allow for that and Robb Stark's terms could never be met. He could only hope that the plan he had set into motion would work. The men and Ser Cleos should surely have arrived in Riverrun by now and with any luck, Jaime would be coming home soon enough.

"Will I be needed for the rest of the day?" Bronn asked when they reached the Tower of the Hand.

"Of course you'll be needed, you think my sister and her idiot of a son aren't going to react once they hear of Pycelle?" he asked incredulously.

"So you want me to guard your damn door?" Bronn said annoyed.

"I'll ask you to guard my damn privy if need be, what's so pressing that you wish to leave anyway?" he asked as they walked into his rooms.

"New girl at Chataya's, blond hair and green eyes, it seems people do truly wish to fuck your sister." Bronn replied with a smirk.

"They should walk up to Cersei herself and offer her something she wants, you tell her you'll see me dead and she'll lift her skirts before you've finished speaking." he said bitterly as he took his seat.

"I thought she and your brother?" Bronn said smirking still.

"My sister were her name Ami and she a Frey would also be called Gatehouse, only that she's Tywin Lannister's daughter is she not." Tyrion said as Bronn laughed.

He tried to go over his papers and found his mind straying, thoughts of Jaime and the war filling them and making him worry. After trying to add some sums and finding he could not, much to his annoyance, Tyrion rose from his seat and bid Bronn join him. The two of them leaving the Tower of the Hand and walking through the courtyard and into the Red Keep. That his sister or Joffrey hadn't come to speak to him and berate him over Pycelle was playing on his mind and so when he walked into the Throne Room he wasn't surprised by the sight, appalled by it but nor surprised.

Sansa Stark knelt on the floor with her dress ripped open and exposing her small and still growing breasts. Joffrey stood on the dais with his crossbow in his hand and Ser Meryn Trant stood over Sansa with his sword raised. Tyrion hearing his nephew's shrill like voice as he called for the girl to be beaten more than she already clearly already had been.

"If we want Robb Stark to hear us we'll have to speak Louder." Joffrey shrieked.

"What is the meaning of this?" he said just as loudly as he walked towards them "What kind of knight beats a helpless girl." he sneered at Trant.

"The kind who serves his king, Imp." Meryn sneered back only to be warned off by Bronn which made Tyrion smirk.

He ordered someone to cover her up and didn't see the Hound step forward and tear off his white cloak to do so. Tyrion's eyes instead on the sadistic fool who was now acting like he always did, a spoiled petulant child who had just had his toy taken from him. Trying to reason with him was stupid and the words he said needed to be tempered, spoilt, petulant, sadistic, and fool or no, he was still the king and if he actually grew some balls then Tyrion could very well lose his own. Joffrey required a certain degree of deference, his equally foolhardy and sadistic Kingsguard did not and so when Ser Meryn tried to act brave, Tyrion showed him to be a coward.

"No one threatens his grace in the presence of the Kingsguard." Ser Meryn said moving forward with his hand on his sword's hilt.

"I'm not threatening the king, Ser, I'm educating my nephew. Bronn the next time Ser Meryn speaks kill him. That was a threat, see the difference." he said as he walked over to the girl who'd not moved from the floor since he'd entered.

He did so softly as if he was moving towards a wounded animal, a wolf who'd not yet shown her fangs. Holding his hand out he was relieved when she accepted it and he turned to lead her from the room. The girl actually looked regal as she walked, were it anyone but his nephew he'd have seen that, and perhaps they could actually work a peace out between his house and the Starks. Perhaps not he thought as she walked away from him a moment later after lying about her intent.

Later that night as he lay in his bed he thought some more of Bronn's idea about Joffrey and the merits of it. It had after all always helped him relax and think straight he thought as Shae walked into the room. Yet as she stripped off and climbed into the bed and moved up to him, as she reached down to take his cock in her hand and fed her breast to his mouth, it wasn't her or Joffrey he thought of. Red hair and blue eyes and the small nipples on pale breasts instead being the image that filled his mind and the image that he spent to.

**Qarth 298 AC.**

**Daenerys.**

Xaro Xhaon Daxos's manse made Illyrio's look like one of the dwellings in Vaes Dothrak. It was far bigger than any she had ever stayed in and more luxurious too. The man's wealth and extravagance were on display everywhere she looked. That he had countless slaves and the finest foods and wines was only to be expected as was his interest in her. Though that was one she wasn't sure was a true one or at least not as true as he claimed it to be. Dany had known what man's desire looked like and Xaro showed far more of that when he looked at one of her bloodriders than he did looking at her.

Still, she welcomed his hospitality and his warnings when they went to meet with the Spice King. The man proving to be just as Xaro had warned her he would be. When he warned her about the warlocks he gained some measure of her trust. Her shadow lover had also warned her not to trust them and to hear it again from Xaro's lips she knew it to be true. She met with them all the same and Pyat Pree's looks he threw her way matched the looks and desire that she had seen in Xaro's eyes. Dany now seeing it wasn't her body they lusted after but her dragons and that Xaro was just as untrustworthy as the warlocks. She rejected Pyat's offer of a visit to the House of the Undying and upon seeing his anger when she did so, she knew that she was making the right choice.

The realization about Xaro made her question who she could trust. Something that consumed her thoughts for the rest of the day and had left her distracted as she walked through the market. Irri and Jhiqui walked with her and laughed at the mummeries happening around them while Set Jorah, Jhogo, and Kovarro acted as her guards. She turned to see what Irri was laughing at and saw a man climb a ladder of flames and then she heard a soft voice speak from behind her. Turning around to see a strange woman looking at her through a red wooden mask.

"The magic is no illusion, Daenerys Stormborn, the mage's gifts as are the warlocks, only growing stronger now the Mother of Dragons is nearby." the woman said as she touched her hand, Dany feeling a tingle run up her arm as Jhogo stepped forward and the woman took her hand away.

"Who are you? "she asked.

"A friend and one who knows of the Black Dragon, the true Black Dragon and not the mummer's one." the woman said.

"Mummer's dragon?" she asked.

"Trust the Whitebeard and the White Wolf, the Black Dragon, and the Fallen Star. The Dragons know Daenerys Stormborn, do you?" the woman said looking into her eyes.

Dany felt as if they were looking deep inside of her, searching for answers to questions that she'd never asked and she wondered if she found what she was looking for. It seemed after some time she did because with a nod the woman moved away and only stopped when Dany called out to her.

"In the shadows, he comes, in your dreams, you'll see. Listen to the heart that beats in your chest and to the words he speaks. He is like you, alone and without family, without the blood of the dragon to warm his cold heart. To go West you must travel East, to see the light you must touch the shadow, to know the truth you must understand the lie, and to know love you must reject hate."

"Who are you?" she called after the woman when she moved a way, a small voice at the back of her head saying that in time she'd return.

The confusion over the meeting, the woman herself, and the words she spoke stayed with her all the way back to the Manse and when she reached it she felt the need to rest and sit with her children. Only to find that when she got there that her children were nowhere to be seen. Xaro claimed innocence and none of his slaves or her people were missing or dead, the guards she'd left at her room were men that Ser Jorah and Kovarro vouched for completely. She was about to send them all to look for her children when the note arrived, Dany almost ripping it open to see what was written on the paper.

"Khaleesi? "Jorah asked when he saw her angered look.

"The Warlocks have my children." she said as she rose to her feet "This House of the Undying where is it?" she asked.

"You don't wish to go there, Khaleesi." Xaro said.

"Where is it?" she demanded.

Jorah, Jhogo, and Kovarro escorted her to the grove where the dark and almost crumbling building stood, Dany unsurprised to see Pyat Pree already standing there waiting for her.

"Give me back my children." she said angrily as she moved towards the warlock.

"Your children await you inside Mother of Dragons." the warlock said with a sneering smile, his thin-crusted lips and toothless grin making her think of dead worms on a body for some reason.

She, Jorah, and the others move to the door only to find it to be unyielding. Pyat laughing now as he looked at them and she noticed a dwarf moving behind him carrying a glass on a tray.

"Only you may enter, Daenerys Stormborn and to do so you must drink." Pyat said.

"Khaleesi." Ser Jorah said worriedly.

"Or perhaps your children, don't need their mother at all?" Pyat said and she moved quickly to the dwarf and took the glass, the smell pungent and almost making her want to retch. She drank it down though and found the taste not to be as vile as she'd feared.

"Once inside take only the first door on the right and follow the stairs up, don't enter any of the rooms lest you become lost, Daenerys Stormborn, lost even to me. After you speak to the Undying and they return your children to you, follow the route you took to find your way back out."

She said nothing to the warlock and just did as he bid, walking through the door and following the directions she was given. When she got past the third door though she found herself in a room with six passages and took the one to the right, finding only open doors leading to rooms on her left, her eyes drawn to what was inside of them.

_A man played a harp while a woman held a babe in her hands, the man looking to the dark-haired woman and babe and smiling and yet he seemed sad too._

" _His name is Aegon but he's not him." the man said as he looked to her, Dany seeing his silver hair and deep purple eyes before he smiled at her "The prince's time is not yet here."_

_A little girl with silver hair ran through a garden with a lemon tree and a red door. The girl laughed and hid behind the tree while a dark-haired man moved slowly towards her as if he couldn't see her peeping out from behind it._

" _Nyke ūndegon ao zaldrītsos." ( I see you little dragon) the man said as he lifted the girl who now laughed even more loudly as he began peppering her face with kisses._

" _Daor kepa, muña mazverdagon zirȳla keligon." (No father, mother make him stop) the girl said as a silver-haired woman moved toward them both._

_Two towers burned as men fell beneath their walls, the flames growing brighter and then covering some of those on the ground._

_A lion ran roared triumphantly as wolves backed away from it before a black dragon flew overhead._

_She saw snakes, wolves, lions, all tied up in vines as a small bird chirped happily in a tree._

As she reached the end of the passageway she found herself in another room, the lights from the torches on the walls soon going out and she heard Pyat Pree call out. Seeing him then holding a torch alight in his hand as he beckoned her forward. She heard a voice with a northern burr, and turned to see a shadow in the darkness, a shape moving towards her, and yet she felt no fear as she welcomed the hand that reached out to take her own.

"Don't be afraid, I'm with you, always." he said to her as he led her up some stairs and away from Pyat.

He led her past an open Ebony door and then a Weirwood one, Dany seeing the men inside were dressed elaborately, and yet she knew they were not who she came to see. When she felt his hand go from her own she briefly panicked but then she felt him behind her, his breath on her neck, and then his lips softly kissed her ear.

"I can only show you the way, I can't follow." he said softly as Dany saw the old grey door.

"Don't leave me." she said turning her head and seeing his face just briefly.

"I'll never leave you, but for now you must travel alone. I'll see you soon Daenerys Stormborn." he said and then he was gone.

She opened the door and stepped into the room behind it, Dany seeing the long table and the dead men and women that sat it. Above it was a large beating heart, swollen and blue and pulsing as she looked at it, and then she heard the voices speak aloud and one other in her head.

"Three fires must you light... one for life and one for death and one to love... three mounts must you ride... one to bed and one to dread and one to love... three treasons will you know... once for blood and once for gold and once for love..."

"Liars only know how to lie, the dragons know the truth, do you?" his voice said, Dany smiling upon hearing it once more before images flashed in front of her eyes.

_A blue-eyed shadow of a man held a fiery sword while another more recognizable one held one that shined brightly._

_A blue flower grew in a wall of ice and its scent filled the air with sweetness._

_A one-eyed old man beckoned her forward._

_A Kraken rose from the sea and moved towards the land._

_A boy and girl sat in the grass while small dragons crawled over their shoulders._

_A silver-haired man fell into a river, rubies spilling from his chest as he called out a woman's name._

_A cloth dragon swayed on a pole amidst a cheering crowd._

_A three-eyed raven cawed and feasted on a dragon's body._

_A man and a woman lay in bed and moaned each other's names._

_The sky was filled with dragons as a dark-haired man looked up, a smile on his face and a sword with a ruby on its pommel on his hip, a young girl and boy in each of his arms laughing as the dragons sang a beautiful song._

She heard the roar and felt a rush of energy run through her, opening her eyes to see Drogon, Viserion, and Rhaegal all tearing into the rotting heart in front of them, their flames soon enveloping the room. Then there was darkness and her shadow lover was beside her once more, his lips on hers and his kiss reaching down deep into her very core.

"Khaleesi, Khaleesi." she heard Jorah's worried voice and she opened her eyes to see the House of the Undying aflame.

"What happened?" she asked.

"They happened, Khalessi." she heard Jorah say and she looked to see her children in the air, the three dragons flying over the burning building, and yet something felt wrong, something that she took a few moments to see, and when she did she gasped loudly.

"Are they bigger?" she asked sitting up.

"Much bigger, Khaleesi." Jorah said as she heard her children roar.

**The Riverlands 298 AC.**

**Arthur.**

The more time he spent with him the more of his father he saw in him. Both of them prone to long silences and thoughtful expressions and to at times seeming lost in their own world. Yet he'd found that unlike Rhaegar's which were brought about by his melancholy, Jon's was very much not. His long silences were usually him thinking over a problem, making plans, or considering what someone had said and what it meant. It had struck him after Jon had spoken with Richard, the boy listening to the tales that Richard had told him about his father and mother, and then for the rest of the night being very quiet.

Arthur had thought him sad and had confronted Richard over it, finding out what they had talked about and the song that Richard had given him. Later he'd talked to Jon himself and while it was true the song had provoked some tears and much sadness, it was a different kind of sadness than Rhaegar would feel. It also was something Jon had used to fuel himself, he'd taken that sadness and directed in a way that Rhaegar never, or rarely did. Arthur listening eagerly to him as he explained what he was feeling, again something that his father would take much longer to share.

" _My mother and father loved each other, true they could have perhaps handled that better than they did but no one could have imagined what it would lead to, and given my grandfather perhaps that itself was somewhat inevitable." Jon said as they sat together by the fire._

" _Your father wished to dispose Aerys, to call a grand council." Arthur said._

" _Rather than become cursed." Jon said softly._

" _Cursed?" he asked._

" _Cursed is the kinslayer." Jon said and Arthur nodded before he spoke some more "What did my father think, Ser Arthur, when news came and he realized that the world he'd left behind had gone to shit, what thoughts plagued his mind?"_

" _That he needed to fix it, your grace." Arthur said._

" _It seems we have more in common than I thought then. This world has gone to shit once more, Arthur, and I need to fix it." Jon said._

" _Do you have a plan to do so?" he asked._

" _Not yet, but I will. For now, I have only two plans, the first is to rescue my sisters." Jon said._

" _The second?" he asked._

" _I'll tell you when I'm more certain of it."_

That had been two days ago and they'd rode hard to catch up with the group carrying his sister and led by the man who murdered Elia and Aegon. Arthur sharpened Dawn's blade each night and loosened his muscles each morning in preparation for finally meeting the man. It had been something he'd thought long and hard about over the years and had come close to doing far before now. Only the fact of Jon's existence had stayed his hand. He wasn't worried that in facing the man he'd take a risk and not be there for his king, even though it was one. More that in slaying the Mountain rumors of his survival would spread and harm his king because of it.

It was why he'd kept his visits to Starfall to a minimum and why he'd only ever truly wielded his blade in Essos over the past five and ten years. Even should news reach Westeros of a man bearing Dawn over there, it would be over there they looked and not here. Arthur hating the idea that they'd think him to be with Rhaegar's sister and brother but willing for it if it kept their eyes far away from his son. That he'd lost the children themselves was enough of a failure in his eyes, to then lose Jon also would make his survival have been for naught. Something that Stark had almost managed to do anyway.

Robert Baratheon, Jon Arryn, Hoster Tully, Tywin Lannister, Varys, Jaime Lannister, Amory Lorch, and the Mountain. There should be no more room on the list of men he hated and certainly, none should find their way to the top of that list, and yet Ned Stark had. An honorable man who'd treat his nephew well and would tell him the truth when the time was right. How had he been so damn naïve to believe it? he thought bitterly as he poked the fire. Were the man not already dead then nothing would sway his sword to make it so, not even an order from his king. Seeing Jon bid him join them he shook his head free of the thoughts and went to sit with his king and the others, eager to hear what he had to say.

"I've sent Ghost and Nymeria on ahead of the men, I think I've found where it can be done but we'll need to ride hard to reach it in time." Jon said as Arthur took his seat beside Richard and the others.

"Reach where your grace?" one of the men asked.

"There is a small copse by a steam less than a day's ride from where the Mountain and his men are, if it were me I'd pick there to stay the night." Jon said and Arthur nodded.

"What is your plan, your grace?" Lord Beric asked.

Arthur listened as Jon explained what he thought they should do and he was soon smiling when he found no fault in it nor did anyone else. He, Richard, Beric, and Thoros were then asked to join Jon as he took a walk down to the stream nearby. There was clearly something on his mind that he didn't wish the others to know about and Arthur was most keen to find out what that was. It turned out he didn't have to wait too long and he was very happy with what he heard.

"No doubt you've all heard the stories, of how Princess Elia was raped and split almost in two. How Aegon was thrown so hard against the wall that his head was crushed and that Rhaenys was stabbed half a hundred times." Jon said to nods.

"Aye, your grace we heard." Ser Richard said his face almost snarling in his anger.

"The men responsible for those atrocities now have my sister. The Mountain and Amory Lorch." Jon said before grimacing.

"How can you be so certain of that your grace? "Lord Beric said "Of their responsibility I mean, not that they're with this group." he quickly added.

"The same way I know that there's a dragon that lives on Skagos." Jon said surprising them all.

"The black dragon, your grace?" Thoros asked hopefully.

"The black dragon, aye. I feel him and in my dreams, I've been with him and he's waiting for me there." Jon said.

"Why don't you call him your grace, have him come here, we could use his help could we not?" Richard asked.

"He wishes me to prove myself first." Jon said cryptically before continuing "A tale for another day. The Mountain raped and killed Princess Elia and murdered my brother, Amory Lorch murdered my sister and we all know on whose orders they did so. They stole the chance of knowing my family from me and now they have more of my family in their clutches. My sister is my priority, if Lorch and the Mountain can fall today then so be it but my sister is my priority." Jon said.

"Of course your grace." Richard said.

"The Mountain, Amory Lorch, Tywin Lannister, be it today, tomorrow or weeks from now they'll pay for their crimes but should it be today then there is something we can do with them, a use we can find for them in death that they have not in life." Jon said.

"Your grace?" he asked confused.

"Dorne, Ser Arthur, Dorne." Jon said and Arthur nodded.

They walked back to the camp and mounted up, Arthur seeing the determined look on Jon's face as he nodded to him and they rode off. It was just after Dusk that they stopped and rested up, the copse now less than a mile away from them and Jon telling them they were there camped just as he'd thought they would be. While they ate and rested the horses, Jon began to draw a map of the camp they were to attack. Arthur listening as he told them they'd have no need to worry about the sentries as the wolves would see to them. After eating and waiting for night to fall, Arthur was glad to see the moon bathed in shadow, Jon walked to him and whispered in his ear. His king stood there looking at him for some time, Arthur finally nodding his agreement and being reward by a smile that took him back to a tower in Dorne.

"Thank you Arthur." Jon said as he walked away and mounted his horse and Arthur watched him and swore it would not be for the last time.

" _My sister Arthur, her over me. Promise me?"_

It was a promise he knew he would never be able to keep.

**Skagos 298 AC.**

_It was different, he felt different, his bonded felt different and he found he very much enjoyed just how different it all was. After being alone for so long, to finally feel someone with him was a most welcome feeling and it made all he'd done seem worthwhile. That he wasn't with him physically didn't bother him as much, as he knew he was coming and that it was only a matter of time until they were together. What pleased him most was his eagerness to be with him was the same as his own to be with his bonded. Both of them wished to be together and it had almost made him leave and go to him, rather than have him come his way._

_He could not though, he needed to be sure and to hear from his bonded's lips his name, to hear it spoken aloud for the first time. He felt he knew it, along with all the other things he seemed to know of him. That he wasn't the Cannibal as people had dubbed him and that he had reasons for all that he'd done. His bonded not judging him and instead thanking him for waiting for him and promising that he would come and come soon._

_It made his hunts more enjoyable, his food tasted better and it had led to him doing things he'd not done in an age. In the dark of night far from land, he'd flown close to the water and unleashed his flames, he flew high in the sky and let them loose as well. He tested himself, his ability to dive, to turn sharply. He let his flames loose in short powerful bursts and in long-drawn-out ones each one lasting longer each time. Training himself, he was training himself just as his bonded was each day and he was just like him, getting stronger by doing so._

_His bond with his bonded was getting stronger too, the more time they spent together in this dream state where they were connected only by their minds, the more that bond grew. He could feel his bonded doubts, his fears, and worries and he did all he could to assuage them. Just as his bonded did with his own, telling him that he had done what he needed to do and that there had been a reason for it. They were meant to be, all dragons needed a Dragonrider and all Dragonrider's needed a dragon, his bonded had said and that they belonged to each other._

_Tonight though it was different, his bonded was far more worried and so his own worry grew. He found himself looking deeper inside his bonded as he had found his bonded look into him occasionally too and what he found made him fearful and angry. The risk was too great and was he just to come to him now then they could take that risk together. It was something they argued about and were at odds over and then his bonded put some of his fears at rest._

" _We were meant to be together and we will be together." his bonded said and finally he was able to rest easy._

_That rest didn't last too long as he felt his bonded now riding into danger, too far for him to fly to even was it time to do so. He could not help in that way as much as he wished to and so he helped in the only way he could, he shared his strength with his bonded and fuelled the fire that he already had within himself._

" _We are meant to be together and we will be together" he said and he felt his bonded grow stronger from his words._

_**Riverlands 298 AC.** _

_**Jon Snow.** _

The dream was different this night, the girl more fearful and his presence taking longer to calm her. He walked to her as she stood on the balcony and looked out at the city below, her silk dress was blowing in the night wind, and her hands were crossed in front of her. She stiffened against him and then turned to him, her fingers brushing his face as he closed his eyes and felt them as if they were real and this was not a dream.

" _You came." she said almost shakily._

" _Always." he said._

" _I feared you would not, that you had left me." she said her voice sad._

" _I'll never leave you." he said moving forward to kiss her lips._

_The two of them kissed for some time, their tongues moving over each other's as hands began to roam and skin was touched. Both of them breaking apart and looking breathlessly at each other before as one they began to laugh._

" _When we meet will it be like this?" she asked._

" _Better." he said seeing her smirk._

" _Look." she said pointing to the night sky where three dragons flew through the air._

" _They're bigger." he said and she nodded._

" _After the Warlocks tried to take me after you and they saved me, they grew." she said._

" _You are safe?" he asked reaching out to touch her face and feeling her lean into his touch._

" _I am safe."_

" _The Whitebeard?" he asked and she shook her head._

" _I net someone a woman, she knew of you." she said._

" _Quaithe of the Shadow."_

" _You know her?" she asked and he shook his head._

" _No, yes, I..she is us. I don't…I have to go." he said as she began to fade "I have to go."_

He opened his eyes to see he was mounted on his horse and looking down in the valley below, the camp stretched out in front of him and Ghost and Nymeria ready and waiting for the signal. The dream had been so real once more and just like the one with the dragon had come as he was awake. Jon trying not to think how that could be nor how he must have looked to those around him. What they must have thought of him sleeping on a horse while ready to order an attack not something he wished to know. Yet as he looked to Arthur and Richard who were both beside him, he could see neither was looking at him with concern or confusion and he began to think he may not have been asleep at all.

"You move your grace, when you're down there you don't stop moving, you understand?" Arthur said.

"I understand." he said pulling Blackfyre from its sheathe and raising it in the air, waving it forward to give the signal.

As one, almost fifty men rode down on those below while from the trees Anguy and his archers loosed a volley and Jon heard the screams as Ghost and Nymeria launched their own attack. Beric and Thoros both held flaming swords in their hands as they rode. Arthur raised Dawn and Blackfyre caught the neck of a man in front of Jon's horse, the Valyrian Steel removing the head as if it was nothing. He rode down another man and stabbed down to kill another while behind him men on horseback cut through those who were not.

He heard the thump as a man was pulled from his horse and he slashed down when someone tried to do the same to him. Jon quickly seeing that the fight would now be fought on the ground and so he jumped from his horse rather than allowed himself to be pulled from it. He was soon facing two ugly brutes of men, one bearing a large axe and the other a spear, both moving towards him. Neither of them would make it though as the first was taken down by an arrow and the second by a white wolf. Ghost tearing into the man silently as Jon looked around to get his bearings.

Around him was absolute carnage, he saw men aflame and Ser Richard fighting with two men at once, neither of whom would last much longer given how it looked. Off in the distance, he could see the flaming swords of Beric and Thoros and he could hear the screams of the men who found those flames. Arthur strode majestically towards him, cutting down men almost casually and Jon could only admire just how easily he did so. He shook his head, this was no time to admire the fight around him and so he looked to Ghost.

" _Take me to her boy."_

The white wolf needed no second bidding and soon enough Jon was being taken to the sound of screams, men's screams thank the gods, and not those of a little girl. It didn't take too long to see the source of those screams as Nymeria tore apart a man who moved towards a small figure, Jon smiling to see who it was.

" _Help her boy."_

Once again words were not needed as Ghost did as he was bid as soon as Jon thought it. The white wolf soon tearing into the man who'd tried to sneak up behind Arya. Jon moved toward her himself only for two men to stand in his way. One was a large man with a greatsword and the other a small piggy faced man who as soon as Jon saw the sigil on his tunic, he knew that he would kill that man before the night was done.

"Lorch." he shouted as he moved quickly towards him.

The large man with the greatsword tried to intercept him to no avail. Jon quickly finding out that once you paid no mind to the imposing figure he presented, the man himself offered no true test. He simply dodged his strike and thrust out with Blackfyre, the blade cutting through the man's cheaply made armor and gutting him right in front of him. It left him alone with Lorch and Jon found the man was a coward to the end. Lorch dropping to his knees and letting his sword fall to the ground, tears falling from his eyes as he begged for his life.

"Please, I surrender, I surrender, mercy." Lorch said his voice sounding far too much like a little girl's to Jon's ears and he felt the fire inside him begin to rage and burn.

"What mercy did you give my sister? What mercy did you offer her? Damn you for what you did to her, damn you to the seven hells." he said as he swung Blackfyre's blade at the man in front of him.

The strikes cut deep and the blood-splattered onto his armor, half a hundred he'd given to a three name day old girl. His piggy face and deep-set eyes the last thing that she had seen before her light was taken from this world. How many he hit the man with in payback he couldn't tell. Was it half a hundred, perhaps not but it was damn close? Jon using the last one to take the man's head from his shoulders and finally being able to breathe normally once more when he did so. He was about to move towards Arya and the wolves when he heard the sound of the footsteps behind him and he turned as the voice bellowed out.

"Boy." the Mountain said his voice sounding like a shout though Jon was sure it was just how he spoke.

Gripping Blackfyre with both his hands he moved forward and readied to face the giant in front of him, the greatsword swinging down towards his as he went to parry. The vibration of the two swords clashing though never traveled up his arm. The sound that rang out confusing him for a moment as he wondered why he'd not felt it. Then he saw the blade that had caught the blow and he realized it wasn't his. Ser Arthur now standing in front of the Mountain with Dawn outstretched.

"This has been a long time coming, Clegane." Arthur said as he began to move toward the Mountain.

Around them the fighting had stopped, Jon glancing to see that Arya and the wolves had no one near and that his sister was walking his way. His eyes then going back to the fight in front of him. The Mountain dwarfed Arthur and was far more quick than a man of his size should be, yet compared to the man he faced he was incredibly slow. Jon even thinking that he was far faster than this when he and Arthur sparred. He was also clearly out of his depth when it came to skills. Arthur easily deflecting the blows from the greatsword and the Mountain barely able to stop Dawn's own from landing. Where it not for his armor's thickness then this fight would already be over.

Jon watched on both eagerly and nervously, the Mountain would die here today that much was clear to any. His men were dead or wounded, while most of the Brotherhood seemed to be unharmed. The only true question that needed to be answered was how and by who he would fall. It was an answer that Jon already knew and as he looked on, he saw when Arthur had maneuvered the Mountain to his end. The knight having forced Clegane sideward's and then when the opening came, Arthur wasted no time.

How deep Dawn's blade went into the gap between arm and shoulder Jon couldn't tell but the Mountain didn't even speak a word as he fell. Jon watching as once he did, Arthur moved and took the man's head as easily as he'd taken his life. The sounds of the wolves behind him had him turning and he saw her then. Arya looking at him and her smile beaming as she ran to him, Needle in her hands as she jumped into his arms.

"Jon." she said loudly.

"Aye, little sister, it's me." he said hugging her tightly against his chest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Up Next Jon and Arya spend time together and speak of their other sister and the plan to rescue her. Catelyn finds out just what happens when brothers aren’t on the same page. The Iron Born attack the North and Dany meets a living legend.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jon and Arya spend time together and speak of their other sister and the plan to rescue her. Catelyn finds out just what happens when brothers aren’t on the same page. The Iron Born attack the North and Dany meets a living legend.

**Riverlands 298 AC.**

**Arya.**

She didn't want to let him go, her arms unwilling to unwrap themselves from around his back and her head refusing to move from his chest. Had she not seen Nymeria then she'd not have been able to but seeing her gave her the strength to move away from her brother. When she felt the wolf's tongue on her face she giggled, the tears that had fallen from her eyes being licked away were all the evidence she needed that she'd been forgiven.

"I missed you too girl." she said happily as she wrapped her arms around the wolf's head.

"I told you she'd be happier to see the wolf." she heard Jon say from behind her, Arya turning to smirk at him and feeling that lump in her throat at seeing him again.

He had come for her, when she had needed someone, anyone, to take her from this place he had come for her. Letting go of Nymeria she ran to him and embraced him again, Jon laughing as he spoke softly to her. His words comforting her even more than the feel of him in her arms, as he told her that he'd not leave her and that she was safe. Arya knew that those words were true because he would never lie to her, not Jon, never him.

Eventually, she let him go and yet she took his hand when he offered it, Arya smiled when she saw Ghost and Nymeria walk by their sides, the pack reuniting.

"Robb?" she asked when the thoughts of pack reminded her that she had another brother who was out here somewhere.

"Was safe and well when last I saw him, as was your mother." Jon said as they walked to the others, Arya looking to see Hot Pie and Gendry were looking both nervous and relieved at the same time.

"You saw my mother?" she asked, hoping that she'd not said something to upset him as her mother was wont to do.

"I did, she's well also. I even stopped in Winterfell and saw Bran and Rickon." Jon said as he looked to Gendry and Hot Pie.

"I heard he was awake." she said sadly thinking of her brother before smiling a moment later when Jon mussed her hair.

"He is and is doing as well as can be expected. These your friends?" Jon asked.

"This is Gendry and Hot Pie, we were heading to the Wall, wait why aren't you at the Wall. Jon if they…" she said quickly turning to him worried he'd face the same fate as the deserter that her father had…her tears falling and the sobs coming as she thought of her father.

"Arya, I'm not being looked for, I never swore my oath." he said grabbing her, Arya shaking her head as she looked at him.

"Father." she said and had she not been crying she'd have noticed Jon look to the man who had killed the Mountain, instead she felt herself being wrapped in yet another hug, her sobs soon stopping as she was once again comforted by the one person who'd always known just how to do so.

Jon waited until she was calmed and then she introduced him properly to Hot Pie, Arya laughing as Hot Pie continually called Jon, My Lord, and Jon shook his head. Gendry seemed warier and it took some time for him to relax. Arya needing to explain who Jon was and that they were safe now he was here, receiving yet another mussing of her hair when she did so. This one getting him a slap on his hand for doing it in front of people.

"We should leave here, Jon." the man who killed the Mountain said, Jon, nodding to him before they then made their way to the horses.

"Where will we go?" she asked him as they walked.

"You're not the only sister I have who needs to come home." Jon said and she looked at him to see him nod, Arya quickly nodding back determinedly.

He placed her on his horse in front of him and they were soon riding away. Arya found herself wondering who these men were and then she noticed Harwin and Alyn among them. She quickly gave both men a nod which was returned and then she turned ready to ask Jon if these were Robb's men.

"We'll speak later little sister, rest." Jon said as she leaned back against him.

She actually slept and when she woke he was helping her down from the horse, her eyes soon opening wide as she looked to make sure she wasn't dreaming and that it was truly Jon who'd come for her. Once she saw that it was she relaxed, Jon didn't saying anything and she felt that he knew what her fear had been. They walked to the camp that was set up and she asked where Ghost and Nymeria were, glad to hear that they'd gone hunting and would be back later.

That he then left her alone for a few moments gave her time to speak to Gendry and Hot Pie once more and she did her best to reassure them that they had nothing to fear and were now safe, Gendry she found had wanted to hear it from her without Jon being around. Her brother soon returned carrying some bowls of a stew of some sort, Hot Pie following hungrily after Gendry when Jon told them there was more ready. Were she not as hungry as she was or with someone other than her brother then she may have been embarrassed by how she devoured the stew. Jon though simply handed her his bowl when she was done.

"No, that's yours." she said shaking her head and cursing the rumble that came from her belly.

"Eat it, I'll grab something later." he said looking to her and making it clear that he wouldn't take no for an answer.

After she finished, she moved in close to him, her side touching against his and she smiled when he placed his arm around her shoulder. She felt her eyes begin to close and even though she'd slept on the horse some, she was soon drifting off. Jon's whispered words that he'd be there when she woke allowing her to sleep with some comfort. The dreams came then just like they had before she'd sent her away, dreams of woods and grass under her feet, dreams of the night sky and of looking up at the moon as she moved.

"Jon?" she called out a little too loudly when she woke.

"I'm here little sister." he said as her eyes became accustomed to the night sky.

They lay on the ground, the fire burning a little way off to their front. Arya snuggled up against her brother and Jon looking at her, his dark grey eyes that were so much like her own almost boring into her soul. She had so many questions, so many concerns, and yet her mind was filled with just one thought, he had come for her.

"Thank you." she said softly, her voice cracking as she did so "Thank you for coming for me."

"Arya, you're my sister, you don't ever have to thank me." he said looking at her, his smile soon making her own appear.

"Who are these men, Jon? Are they Robb's?" she asked as they now lay face to face.

"No, they're the Brotherhood without Banners, men who had been sent to catch the Mountain along with men who've joined up since. They fight for the people, Arya, help keep them safe from men like Lorch and the rest of the Mountain's men."

"So it was the Mountain they came for, not me." she said softly.

"They came with me, Arya, I came for you." he said and she nodded.

"Why do they follow you?" she asked and saw the frown that appeared on his face, Jon quickly sitting up and looking at her.

"Follow me." he said rising to his feet and then reaching out his hand, Arya taking it eagerly and holding it while he led her from their camp.

She smiled broadly when she saw Ghost and Nymeria walk ahead of them, the two wolves had come back just as Jon said they would. So focussed was she on them and Jon that she didn't see the man who killed the Mountain following behind them. Jon soon leading her to the small steam and Arya shaking her head when he filled his pouch with water.

"There is something I need to tell you, little sister. Something I found out but I need you to listen to the end, can you do that for me?"

"Aye." she said nodding, her brother didn't have to ask her, there was nothing she'd not do for him.

"When I was at the Wall I had an accident." Jon said and she made a move to him only for him to smile and shake his head "All is well, I'm unhurt. But like Bran I was asleep for some time, I had dreams Arya, dreams of who I was, of who my mother was." Jon said his voice different than she'd ever heard it.

"You know your mother?" she asked happily, knowing how much it had meant to him to find out who she was.

"I do, Arya, but there's more to the story before I get to that. At the Wall I was looked after by the Maester and when I woke it was to find out what had happened in King's Landing and that Robb had marched south. Since I'd not yet sworn my oath there was no reason for me to stay there, not when my family needed me."

She looked at him and smiled as she moved towards him, her arms going around him of their own accord and she soon found herself marveling at how warm she felt when he placed his own around her. After he mussed her hair and kissed her forehead, which she made a big show of wiping with her sleeve and looking annoyed at him over, something she really wasn't, Jon began to speak once more.

"I rode from the Wall to Winterfell, spoke to Bran and Rickon, and though they wished and in a way so did I, for me to stay, I could not. Not with you and Sansa as prisoners and my brother marching to war. I tried to comfort them as best I could and then I rode south, soon reaching the Moat and while there I was met by one of the Crannogmen who brought me to meet Lord Reed." Jon said looking to her.

"Howland Reed, you met him? What was he like? Did he speak about father? Did he know your mother? Wait, you were in the Neck? Did you see Greywater Watch? Or a lizard lion? Did you.."

The sound of Jon laughing seemed loud against the quiet of the night, Arya looking at him before she laughed too. With anyone else she'd have glowered at them or lost her temper with them for ignoring her questions. With Jon she felt as if they were back in Winterfell and not in the middle of the Riverlands and it was the first she'd felt that way in moons.

"Now there's the little sister I remember." Jon said chuckling still as he walked nearer the water and took a seat on a stone, Arya following to do the same.

"I can't help it, I never knew how much I missed talking and not having to be quiet in case…" she said her voice trailing off as she tried not to cry.

"You never have to be quiet again little sister." Jon said and she nodded.

"What happened in the Neck, Jon?" she asked after a few moments of silence.

"I learned the truth, Arya. Lord Stark was not my father." Jon began as Arya shook her head angrily and interrupted him before he could continue.

"Enough with that, I don't care what my mother says, you're my brother, Jon, always." she said determinedly.

"Aye, I am. But on this I'm speaking true, Arya, Ned Stark was my uncle, not my father, my father was Rhaegar Targaryen and my mother his wife Lyanna Targaryen." Jon said and had it been anyone else saying it then she'd have been kicking, punching, and biting them by now.

"But…Aunt Lyanna was…Jon…you're not my brother?" her thoughts as jumbled as the words that came from her mouth.

She felt him grab her and hold her tight, even the small amount of resistance she gave him was a token effort and not something he allowed her. Jon instead holding her and speaking the same words over and over, Arya finally relaxing in his arms as the truth of those words hit home.

"You're my sister, always." Jon said and Arya knew that to be true as he never lied to her, not him, not Jon.

**Storm's End 298 AC.**

**Catelyn.**

Bitterbridge had been a waste of her time, Cat frustrated that while her son and his men fought against the Lannisters, Renly Baratheon was holding tourneys. Boys playing at war rather than an army marching to crown a king that's what she thought of them and what they truly were. Still, an alliance had been what she'd come for and one that she'd offered to them. While they'd not outright rejected it, their terms would be hard to sell, and yet if it brought her back her girls, ones that she'd have sold gleefully.

While Renly would make a terrible king, his new queen and her family would see the realm right, true they'd take their own piece of it but far less than the Lannisters would, and in truth what cared she for any of the Realm other than her son's and brother's lands. The price though would be Robb's crown and there would be those amongst the Northmen who'd not wish to pay it. Cat herself was only thinking of her girls and the safety of her sons, she would pay any price to have them all back at Winterfell and far from the South. Her eyes closed as she remembered Ned's words and hoped they didn't prove to be even more prophetic than they already had been.

" _Starks don't do well in the south, Cat."_

It was to thoughts like this and to what little she knew of Stannis Baratheon that her head was filled as they rode the long and pointless journey to Storm's End. Cat agreeing with what some of the more experienced Lords said about this being a fool's errand. Storm's End would not fall and had not to a larger force than the one Stannis besieged it with, to march to it when the war was to the east was a folly. That it clearly showed the depth of the feelings that Renly had for his brother didn't bode well either she thought.

"You're most quiet my lady." Margaery said to her as she rode beside her, the young girl who sought to be queen spending as much time on horseback as she did in the wheelhouse.

"I was thinking of the parley, your grace." Cat said, courtesy still important if there was to be an alliance.

"Grandmother thinks this a waste of time, do you feel the same?" the girl asked inquisitively.

"I think the war is elsewhere, your grace, and it's to that his grace's army should march. Each day he delays on other matters gives the Lannister's more time to prepare and make ready."

"You worry about your son." Margaery said softly.

"I worry about all my children, your grace." she replied.

It took far too long to reach Storm's End, the days turning into never-ending worries for her as she traveled further and further from where she wished to be. That the news they received was either old or something used to shore their spirits up was soon clear to her. Cat ignoring the talk that the Lannisters were on the run and of her son's victories in battles fought before she'd even left. It wasn't even until the night before their parley with Stannis that she actually received any news that she didn't already know.

"Lady Catelyn, their graces have requested your presence." the large blond newly named member of Renly's Rainbow Guard said after entering her tent.

"Very well, Lady Brienne." she said and saw the momentary flinch on the blonde's face.

She followed the lady knight, who was not truly a knight but may as well have been, to the overly extravagant tent that Renly Baratheon and his young queen called their own. Cat noticing Ser Loras and Ser Robar Royce both on duty, the two men wearing the same ridiculous rainbow cloaks that Brienne wore.

"Your grace." she said with a curtsy first to Renly and then to Margaery, the young girl smiling in a way that was both friendly and not fully true at the same time.

"Lady Catelyn, we've received some news that we thought may be of interest to you." Margaery said before nodding to Ser Loras who stepped forward and handed her a scroll.

Cat read it eagerly, smiling when she saw her brother's name and the words that it carried, her mind not concerning itself with how they received it while on the road or when.

"A great victory, my lady, you son should be most proud of his accomplishment." Renly said with a nod.

"A victory true your grace, but to bring Tywin Lannister down it will require more than battles such as this." she said, her pride in Robb's achievement and her relief at him being unhurt clear, and yet she knew her words were true.

"Which is why after I've dealt with my brother, I intend to bring the fight to the Lannisters my lady, with mine own and your son's forces we can finally put this war to rest." Renly said and she smiled and nodded and tried not to let her annoyance show.

She'd told him those very words in Bitterbridge, beseeched him to march east and attack Tywin Lannister with his entire army. There they'd laughed at her and had said without saying that she knew nothing of military tactics, before they'd diminished her son's victories as mere skirmishes and had tried to convince her that King's Landing was the prize. That to win it and have it secured gave them the crown and that once it fell then Tywin Lannister would be done for.

Cat knew little of tactics that was true, but she had sat her father's table and supped with him and her uncle. She'd listened when Ned spoke about the war, as rarely as he did so she'd listened even if it was in a vain hope of learning who Jon Snow's mother had been. Still, she'd listened and her father, her uncle, and her husband had all said the same truth. You beat the army before you win the war and losing King's Landing wouldn't be the end of Tywin Lannister, far from it. She was about to leave when Renly said something that shocked her, Cat having to ask him to repeat himself and not even using his title as she did so.

"I'm sorry, Lord Baelish is here, you say?" she asked not caring about the frown on Ser Loras's face.

"He is my lady, says he came to see you, Brienne will see you to him." Renly said.

She made her way to the tent and saw Petyr there, his smug grin annoying her for the first time, and yet it was what was behind him that she found herself focussed on.

"Cat." he said moving to kiss her, the brush away she gave him not removing his smile.

"How dare you come to me after what you did. I trusted you, my husband trusted you and you betrayed our trust with treachery." she said angrily.

"Cat, you may have heard things that were not true, I tried to help your husband, truly I did."

"Even now to my face you cannot help but lie, I curse the day you were ever brought to our door, I curse that I ever beseeched Brandon to not hurt you." she said almost biting her lip.

"I've loved you since I was a boy, it seems to me that faith has given us this chance.."

"Get out, get out now." she shouted as Brienne and her guards came rushing in yet he did not move and after a moment he began to speak again

"Do you want to see your girls again? Sansa more beautiful than ever and Arya, just as wild as ever."

"You have Arya too?" she asked her voice firm though she knew not how.

"Both girls are safe, for now, but I fear for their safety Cat. Joffrey, Cersei you know what they're like and even I cannot protect them for long." he said as she tried not to look at him, tried not to show how she was truly feeling.

"What do you want?" she asked.

"The Lannisters will trade them for the Kingslayer." Petyr said softly.

"Of course they will, Jaime Lannister for two girls, Robb has already refused these terms." she said.

"I'm not bringing them to him, your son has won victories, Cat, but he's not a mother. Consider it, you may not get another chance." he said looking to her before smiling once more "I've brought you a gift."

"What care I for gifts from you." she said bitterly.

The two women walking in and carrying a small box soon took her attention as Petyr spoke about this being a sign of the Imp's good faith.

"What's this?" she asked though she knew what it was.

She knelt down and opened it, the tears on the verge of falling, and yet she'd not shed them while he was in her tent, she'd not desecrate Ned's memory so.

"Your husband was an honorable man." Petyr said moving towards her.

"Get out." she said glaring at him until he did so her tears coming as she looked in the box and closed it.

She leaned against it as she sobbed, the shaking of her body making the wood of the chest seem to vibrate. Her head was soon filled with images of Sansa and Arya, of Robb and Bran and Rickon. When she saw the image of Jon Snow her eyes opened wide, Cat shocked that his face would be one she cared to see at such a time. Yet he was Ned's son as much as her own were and perhaps that was the reason for it. She closed her eyes once more and swore for the briefest moment she saw Jon Snow standing with both her daughters, Cat falling to sleep with that image in her head and praying it was true.

**Qarth 298 AC.**

**Daenerys.**

They wished her gone, the Thirteen, the Pureborn, and even Xaro once she'd firmly told him that she had not nor would ever have any intent to marry him. She too wished to leave also though, even if her time here had been enlightening and as she looked to the sky to see the dragons fly, rewarding. She had a sense of needing to be elsewhere and so she had asked Irri and Jhiqui to join her and together with Ser Jorah had set about to find a ship to take them elsewhere.

Where that was she wasn't certain though she had an idea, for now though she walked with Kovarro behind her and Jorah ahead. Jhiqhi and Irri looked to her for permission to go to the stalls, Dany nodding it to them and smiling when they ran off. The two girls were at times far more mature than her and yet could be almost childlike when they wished to be, something Dany envied them for. Her own childhood was far behind her and it was one that had forced her to grow far more quickly than she should have.

When the man approached her, Kovarro moved to stop him but the man stopped himself before reaching into his pocket to take out a ball. She found herself laughing as he began to juggle with it before he dropped it to the ground and it rolled towards her, Dany bending down to pick it up. She heard the man say he was sorry and then before her hands had grasped the ball it was knocked from them, Dany turning to see a hooded man move towards it as the ball split in two. The thing that came out of it moved in her direction but didn't make it even a foot before the knife impaled it. Dany looked to the man who'd done so and watched as he removed his hood, his long grey hair, and white beard clearly evident as Dany's breath stilled.

"My name is Arstan Whitebeard, your grace." The man said as he knelt and Dany looked to see another man walk her way, this one a huge fat man who was bald and scarred.

"Who sent you?" she asked her words coming out rushed as his look and name resonated deep within her.

"Strong Belwas and I come from Pentos, your grace, on behalf of Magister Illyrio we've come with ships to take you back there." Arstan said as she bid him rise and the other man arrived.

"Ships?" she asked concentrating on that first.

"We have three ships your grace." the other man, Belwas, said looking to her.

"And you say Magister Illyrio sent you?" she asked, more to Arstan than Belwas though it was the latter who answered.

"He did, the magister wishes you to return and prepare to take back your throne." Belwas said happily.

"Why?" she asked and held up her hand when Belwas went to speak making it clear it was Arstan that she wished the answer from.

"Because there are four kings in Westeros and yet no justice." Arstan said.

She looked to Jorah who looked doubtful and yet he'd had no luck in procuring them a ship, even were these men not telling the truth they did have that in their favor. Though she knew that wasn't the reason why she found herself trusting at least one of them. The words her shadow lover had told her all the clearer now and she almost chuckled aloud thinking that it was more than the beard on the man's face that showed him true.

"We will inspect your ships." she said after a few moments, Jorah looking at her imploringly and Dany shaking her head before she spoke further "But if you are playing us wrong." she said with a smile as she motioned them to look upward.

Drogon, Rhaegal and Viserion all were flying a little lower now, whether she had bid them too or whether the danger she'd been in had been sensed by them she couldn't be certain. Belwas looked like a big child, his eyes alight as he looked to the dragons while Arstan had a much different expression on his face. His was one of wonderment and awe and she felt there was something else there too, something she couldn't quite work out. Until she saw the tears well up in his eyes she had thought it to be worry but as she looked at him now it was as if he was seeing something he'd believed but doubted had just been proved true.

As the dragons flew back out to sea to feed, Dany bid the two men take her to the ships. She listened to Belwas speak glowingly about the Magister and about their trip back to Pentos while Arstan remained silent and almost watchful. When they reached the ships she found herself pleasantly surprised, the largest was a decent cog named Saduleon and the other two smaller but in just as good condition. Dany found herself smiling at the fact there were three of them and knew that not only would she rename them but what names she'd use, three ships, three dragons, and the conquest though different would be somewhat similar.

"This is Captain Groleo, your grace." Arstan said as a dark-haired older man walked her way.

"And who does he serve?" she asked

"You, your grace. Magister Illyrio sent him to do your will." Belwas said looking to her and smiling, Dany found herself wondering if he ever was without a smile on his face.

"We set sail whenever you wish, your grace." Groleo said as she nodded, Jorah then asking him about supplies and being told they'd be ready and fully stocked by the next tide.

After they explored the ship, she, Jorah, Arstan, and Belwas all made their way back to Xaro's palace, the man himself was out somewhere and Dany more than happy that this would be the last time she spent the night here. She sent for food that when it arrived it was eaten almost greedily by Belwas and sparingly so by Arstan. They spoke some and when she went to bed that night she was tired and yet excited at the thoughts of leaving the next day. Her excitement soon rose when she heard the voice in her dreams, the shadow moving towards her as she stood on the balcony of a room that looked out at the night sky.

" _I hoped you would come." she said softly when she felt his arms wrap around her._

" _I missed you." he said as she leaned back against him._

" _He came, just as you said he would." she said, her fingers lacing with his of their own accord._

" _The Whitebeard?" he asked and she nodded._

" _I can trust him, truly?" she asked slightly worried._

" _Ask him his name, his true name, tell him you already know and see how he responds."_

" _Who is he?" she asked as she turned only for his answer to be smothered by her lips as she kissed him deeply, the shadow answering only when she let him._

" _A friend, Dany, a friend of both of us and a man who will protect you even at the cost of his life." the man said._

" _How do you know these things?" she asked looking deep into dark grey eyes._

" _I don't know, only that I do." he said before he laughed, Dany finding that she quite enjoyed the sound._

" _I'll ask him." she said nodding._

" _Jorah, Dany, I need you to do something that you'll not wish to with Jorah."_

" _What?" she asked nervously._

" _Forgive him."_

" _What do I need to forgive him for?" she asked._

" _For not being who he is now. For not knowing who you truly were and for taking the time to find out before truly coming to your side."_

" _I don't understand?" she said only to be kissed and to feel herself almost melting in his arms._

" _Do you trust me?" he asked his voice soft as he almost whispered in her ear._

" _I do."_

" _Do this for me." he asked and she nodded, her eyes drawn to his mouth where she saw his smile and felt her heart still at looking at something so beautiful._

" _Will I see you soon, for true?" she asked as she felt him move away from her._

" _We both have but a few more things to do, you know where you must go as do I but aye, we'll be together soon, for true."_

" _Who are you?" she called as he began to fade away._

" _A dragon just like you." she heard his voice say before she was alone once more._

She woke early the next morning, broke her fast, and thanked Xaro for his hospitality, the man not seeming best pleased that she was leaving and yet she knew he wished her to go. Leaving the room she made her way to his large garden and looked at the three dragons as they rested. They were larger than horses now and she wondered how she could move them on the ships as all three wouldn't fit on one and she feared what would happen if they were on a different one than her. Leaning into Drogon, she stroked his head and almost felt a presence in her own, images of flying over land and sea coming to her.

"Kostā." (You Can) she asked and Drogon snorted, Dany leaving him to speak to Rhaegal and Viserion and finding them to be in agreement, or at least she believed so.

They soon took to the air and Dany was saying goodbye to the palace, Jorah, Kovarro, Belwas, and Arstan all walking with her back to the ships. Her things were put in her cabin on the newly renamed Balerion and after telling the captain their new destination, preparations were made to sail from Qarth to Astapor. She waited until they were leaving the bay before she explained herself, Jorah agreeing with her while both Arstan and Belwas did not. Listening to their complaints she noticed the differences in them, Belwas wished for her to head to Pentos while Arstan seemed to be disagreeing with her purchasing of slaves.

"Arstan, Jorah, I wish to speak to you both alone." she said after she'd made it clear that this was their plan and she'd not be dissuaded, Belwas and Kovarro leaving them alone when she bid them to.

It was time to find out the truth as her shadow loved had bid her to, Dany looking nervously at the white-bearded man, and yet she was eager to know who he truly was. When she looked at Jorah it was with a different look, the words spoken in her dream could only mean one thing and the sting of it was something she wasn't sure she could bear. Still, she had to know the truth about them both, and best it be done now.

"What is your real name, Arstan?" she asked.

"Your grace?"

"I know who you are but I'll give you but this one choice to speak it yourself and explain why you kept it from me." she said looking at the man, her eyes more ice than fire as she did so.

"My name is Barristan Selmy, your grace. I was Kingsguard to your father and served your family for many years, I failed them." Arstan, no Barristan said, the pain in his voice enough evidence of his truth.

"He was Kingsguard to Robert Baratheon too, your grace." Jorah said looking to Barristan.

"I was to my shame. I'll not deny it nor apologize for it, though I am sorry I ever accepted his offer. I've come to offer you my sword and counsel your grace, I hid myself from you because I feared you to be like your brother and father."

"My father was a great man." she said angrily.

"He was but even great men can fall and in the end, he fell far. Your father earned his epithet your grace, he was called the Mad King but not just by his enemies, by those of us who served him too. I speak of this knowing that you may wish me gone or even wish my head, but I speak the truth as I will each day I serve you." Barristan said.

She nodded before looking to Jorah, noticing now the look of panic in his eyes and knowing then the truth of his betrayal.

"I'll ask you only once Ser Jorah, just as I knew who Ser Barristan truly was I know the truth about you also. Here in this cabin you may speak on it and explain yourself and I will listen and weigh it against all you've done for me, here and now only will you find a chance for forgiveness." she said her voice firm as Jorah looked from her to Barristan and saw something in both their eyes.

"I sold your secrets your grace. I was offered a pardon to report your movements and I took the deal and sold your secrets." Jorah said shakily and Dany felt the fire begin to rise, the urge to see him pay for his betrayal threatening to overwhelm her.

Closing her eyes she was soon back on the balcony and feeling the night breeze, the warmth of his arms around her, and his words in her ears. She'd promised him that she'd do it for him and so she would, Dany felt the fire recede and let it go out before she opened her eyes to look at the two knights once more.

"You stopped?" she asked.

"I did, when I realized the truth of you, when we rode together to Vaes Dothrak and I understood who you truly were, I stopped." Jorah said.

"And if you could go back?" she asked.

"Then I'd have sent falsehoods your grace. Had I not accepted the deal I'd never have met you and so I'm not sorry for that, I am for everything else, and should you find it in your heart to forgive me then my sword, my life is yours." Jorah said.

"And you Ser Barristan, what say you to Ser Jorah's words?" she asked.

"I come with mine own betrayal your grace, I am not so much a hypocrite that I'd judge another man his. You are the Last Dragon and both I and Ser Jorah are here to serve or to be punished at your discretion." Barristan said.

"Then you both have my forgiveness and are welcomed into my service true, but I warn you. A dragon never forgets and so, should you betray me again." she said leaving the threat open.

"Your grace." Barristan said with a nod when he rose to his feet.

"Your grace." Jorah said doing likewise.

As the two men turned to walk away, Dany felt the need to correct one of them and before she knew it she was saying the words aloud.

"You were wrong Ser Barristan."

"Your grace?" he said stopping to look at her.

"You called me the Last Dragon."

"You are your grace." Barristan said confusedly.

"No there is another." she said with a smile.

**The North 298 AC.**

**The Stony Shore.**

**Theon.**

The village had not provided any true defense and those who had dared were soon put to the sword. Theon put his britches back on and looked at the girl on the bed, her throat slit and her teats that had only moments earlier been covered by his lips, now covered in her blood. He felt no guilt over it, no remorse, and even as he'd emptied his seed in her, he'd known it would never take. There would be no bastard for her to worry about he'd thought as she screamed and if anything he was granting her a mercy. She was the only decent wench in this village and had he not killed her then she'd have been raped to death anyway.

Setting fire to the hut as he walked from it he laughed, at least in her last few moments she'd gotten to lay with a prince after all. He looked to his men and to his uncle Aeron and to Dagmer who to his annoyance garnered much more respect than he. Between them both and this pitiful excuse for a command he'd gain no glory and his name wouldn't be spoken of when their great tales were sung about. Asha was taking Deepwood Motte and Victarion would take the Moat while he was sent to raid villages and earn no glory. Not even killing Benfred Tallhart and easily defeating him and his group would earn him his father's respect.

No, to do that he needed something big, something grand and glorious, something that made him stand out even amongst his sister and uncles. It was something he'd thought long and hard about and something he knew could be done, he only had to play things right for Winterfell to be his. He walked to the small hut that Aeron and Dagmer had taken for their own, his plan ready to be set in motion.

"Ah, the young prince graces us with his presence." Dagmer said drinking down some ale as he looked up at him when he walked into the hut.

"And has my nephew found a salt wife?" Aeron asked, his uncle's face in its usual scowl.

"She found my blade to cut even deeper than my cock." he said with a chuckle.

"Sit, we're going over plans, the scouts say there is another village nearby." Dagmer said.

"Aye, a poor one with even less to offer than this or the last five we attacked." he said bitterly.

"Yet attack it we shall, as our king commands." Aeron said.

"You attack it, it's a fool's job anyway and you're just the fool for the job, uncle mine." he said and even Dagmer laughed with him as Aeron's scowl grew larger.

"You have a better idea?" Dagmer asked intrigued.

"We just killed those, what the fuck did they call themselves?"

"The Wild Hares." Dagmer said with a chuckle.

"Aye, we just ended them and so Torrhen's Square is blind, I say you head there and take it, you'll find the plunder more to your liking and the women at least ones you'd wish in your bed." he said looking to Dagmer who seemed interested in what he was suggesting at least.

"What will you do when I'm fighting these Tallharts?" Dagmer asked.

"I'll go and harry Winterfell and force them to call for help, they'll call the men from Torrhen's Square thinking we mean to take the keep. Once they come then you'll find your own task even easier."

"The king." Aeron said.

"Is sitting on his arse in Pyke and my men need plunder." Dagmer said.

"We have an accord?" he asked.

"For fuck's sake stop talking like a Greenlander, boy." Dagmer said spitting in his hand, Theon shaking it happily.

True to his word his uncle took no part and if anything Theon was glad of it, having him continue with reaving along the Stony Shore would mask his own movements, as would Dagmer's attack on Torrhen's Square. That he'd lied to the man bothered him not, he'd treated him with no respect since he'd returned, and should he fall to Ser Rodrik's blade then so be it. Theon knew the Northmen far too well and they'd never believe Winterfell could fall, so they'd never send reinforcements to it. Torrhen's Square on the other hand could certainly fall and it would be to Winterfell they'd call for help.

He smiled as they moved out of the village, the ride to Winterfell one he longed to make and his plan to take the keep now well in hand. Soon enough he'd prove his father wrong and do what no Iron Born had ever done.

**Deepwood Motte 298 AC.**

**Dacey.**

Almost a thousand men rode with her, the ravens sent from Greywater Watch having rallied the Mountain Clans and some more. Bear Island was on alert as would Deepwood Motte and though she'd have preferred to be at the Moat with the Smalljon, she knew that she was needed here instead. They'd rode hard and been lucky to arrive before any battle began, the Glover scouts telling them that the ships were seen off Sea Dragon Point and Dacey finding that she had to argue with the men who wished to let them know of their presence.

These fools wished them to just sail away, not caring where they sailed too or that they could then bide their time and return. Dacey however would not allow it and she bore her King's seal in this, his word overriding all. That she feared for Bear Island if she let them sail on was true but so was the knowledge that they would come again. Nothing would stop them but a defeat so true that it would take them years to recover from and that's what she promised herself she'd see true.

They took up position in the trees, the horses and men both feeling the cold and yet the fires remained unlit and the food they ate was uncooked. Dried bread, cold water, clear heads needed for what was to come. He held her mace in her hand even though she had no need to, Dacey enjoying the comforting feeling of it just as she always did. Around her, she looked to the Wull's, Norrey's Flint's, and Glovers, good men and true and more than a match for the squids that came their way. Time stretched on, dusk giving when to the dark of the night, and then the scout returned with the news.

"They've landed." the man said as she stood with the other leaders of this group, though it was her they looked to for command.

"How many?" she asked.

"I counted more than twenty, I'd say thirty maybe more."

"Less than a thousand men, they think they can take the Motte with less than a thousand men." one of the Glovers said.

"They can and will, lest we stop 'em." Morgan Liddle said, Dacey, nodding her agreement.

"Then stop them we will. What say you, anyone in the mood for squid?" she said to laughs.

"Aye, my belly is empty and even a squid will fill it." one of the Norrey men said.

"Fuck that, I say we kill these fuckers and then eat some proper food, it'll be nice to wash it down with an ale or two and nothing makes it feel better than when you've wet your ax in Kraken blood." another voice called out.

They quickly mounted and rode to the edge of the Wolfswood, the signs of the fires and camps being set up before the Iron Born made their way to the Motte. She raised the horn to her mouth and blew it loudly, the sounds of others soon joining her and as one they rode from out of the cover of the trees. Mace in hand she rode hard and soon enough she was in the midst of the fighting itself, their attack had caught the Iron Born so by surprise that even their archers hadn't had time to react.

The crunch of a skull and the feel of a body being crumpled under her horse was soon joined by the sounds of screams as men died. The smell of the shit that came from their bowels as they breathed their last almost overpowering the smell of the copper of their blood in the air. She saw men race for their ships and some manage to make it, yet she cared not for the stragglers or those craven enough to run. Instead, she rode and turned only to feel her horse go out from under her. Around her, she saw some others who'd taken to their feet, either by their own choice or like her by necessity. Not that it mattered as the fight was still the same, she brought her mace down on yet another skull as she dodged an ax blow and responded with a kick to the chest.

Their cavalry wasn't a true one, they weren't armored and didn't carry any lances as the King's had when he'd torn into those underneath Riverruns's walls. Dacey had asked for horses and been given them and they'd ridden because it would get them there quickly and give them an early advantage. But in truth, the men with her were infantrymen and so was she and the squids were now learning that to their cost.

A large man came way brandishing an ax and she saw the Middle Liddle fight what looked to be a woman with two. Dacey blocking that from her mind as she dodged the blow aimed at her head and replied with one of her own. She felt the bones of the man's knee give out and then she swung as he fell to the ground, the sound of his jaw as the mace connected telling her that he was done for before he landed. The fight didn't last too long after that, Dacey looking to see a half dozen ships had sailed away and the rest was now theirs to own.

"For the North." she heard a cheer go up that let her know it was done.

"King Robb."

"The Young Wolf."

Dacey smiled as he made her way to the Middle Liddle, finding him standing over a woman on the ground, her looks seeming familiar to her, and yet she couldn't place her.

"Morgan?" she asked.

"Dacey." Morgan said before smiling "I caught myself a squid who thinks she's a princess, Asha, daughter of Balon."

"A cunt just like her brother." she said to laughs as she told the men to tie her up.

**Moat Cailin 298 AC.**

**The Smalljon.**

They watched the ships sail up the Fever River, the Smalljon laying in the grass next to Howland and his men. Back at the Moat he had left nearly six hundred men and had the attack being coming from the south then it would be more than enough. An attack from the north though was not as easily defended and looking at the ships that sailed by even six hundred men wouldn't be enough. It was why he'd listened and agreed with Howland's plan, and why he lay in the wet grass and felt his cock grow wetter by the second. Though not in the way he'd like it, he thought with a wry smile.

"How many?" he whispered.

"Too many." Howland replied.

"You think we need more men?" he asked worriedly for the first time.

"I think we fight with what we got and we win or die." Howland said and he nodded.

They moved from the banks and made their way back to their men, almost a hundred of Howland's best archers plus men he'd gather from anywhere he could find them. All in all, they had nearly two thousand men and boys ready to fight and he knew as Howland did that surprise was key. They needed the Iron Born to land and to march and as they attacked the Moat in force, they could attack them from the rear. He only hoped the men in the Moat held firm and they'd not misjudged it, his father would never forgive him if he let the Moat fall on his watch.

" _You're an Umber son, a giant among men, show those squids what happens when they dare face a giant, show them who owns the North."_

It took hours for the Iron Born to land and even longer for them to launch their attack, the Smalljon watching as the squids were surprised to find a Moat that was ready for them. He laughed seeing the shock in their faces and their surprise when so many fell as they launched their attack. Then he waited for what felt like an age as Howland organized his men and the arrows began to fly. It was like nothing he'd ever seen before, archery of a level he didn't even know existed. Each arrow hit home and when it did a man fell.

Howland had told him that the crannogmen used poisons on their arrows and whatever it was he didn't wish to know as the men who fell did not get back up even if the aim hadn't been fully true. After some volley's he knew they'd come at them and so he stood at his tallest and his voice boomed out.

"Who owns the North." he shouted loudly.

"We do."

"Who owns the North."

"We do."

"Show them." he said pointing with his sword as he and his men began to run forward.

The greatsword swung and decapitated the first men it met, Smalljon slashing the next man so cleaning that he knew he was dead before looking. Far ahead of him he saw the Kraken helmed man and knew he was in charge, yet he doubted he could reach him. So he took his frustration out on any he could, his greatsword a match for any ax, hammer, poleaxe, or pike that came his way. When the arrow landed in his toughened leather it annoyed him so much that instead of swing his sword at the man nearest him, he hit him with his head, growling as he did so. That the arrow was Iron Born and not Crannogman was something he was thankful for, as was the toughness of the leather he wore.

He heard the horn and looked behind him, smiling when the horses rode their way. The Merman flag waving high and the Iron Born soon retreating as those who were unlucky enough to face the cavalry charge fell to the ground. Leading his men after the retreating men he saw the man in the Kraken helm and cursed that he'd still not reach him. The Smalljon cutting down men left and right as he chased them back to their ships. By the time he reached them more than half were sailing away and on the deck of one the man in the helm stood looking at him, the Smalljon watching as an arrow glanced harmlessly off the helm and fell to the ground.

They had won and yet to him, it felt like a defeat as he watched the ships sail away, flaming arrows caught some of the sails and hit decks and yet he knew they'd not stop any of those who were lucky to escape. It was only Howland's word that made him realize the extent of their victory, they'd sent them packing and had taken half their ships for their own. They'd killed far more of their men than they'd lost, three maybe even four squids for every Northman lost. More importantly, the Moat was there's still and that gave them the North, he'd done as he'd been bid by his father and his king.

"He'd be proud of you, he'd also tell you to get fucking drunk as you deserve an ale." Howland said as the Smalljon nodded.

"Aye, getting drunk does sound right." he said as they walked back towards the Moat, his eyes turning to look behind him once more and he prayed he'd get the chance to face the Kraken helmed man one day.

**Skagos 298 AC.**

_Even as a hatchling he had felt he was different, his mother had felt it too and though she'd taught him what he needed to do to survive, he'd know she'd feared him and so as soon as he could he left her to live alone. In the skies above him, dragons flew and some had riders on their backs. It had made him jealous, envious as even though he was different from them, he was the same also. He wished what they had and so when the horns blew he thought of answering, yet he knew he could and would not._

_He watched those weaker than he fell prey to the Dragonbinders, could sense the eagerness of the men who blew those horns to bind him, and even though he wished for a rider more than anything, he enjoyed their disappointment when he wouldn't come. In time men came to him and dared tried to bind him by their will alone, some using whips as if they could harm him, those who did soon finding out to their cost why that was a bad idea. Whether it was his annoyance or something else that had caused him to take to the sky and fly far away he couldn't tell. Even now all these years later all he knew as he had felt the call and so had flown north._

_The island though different to the one he now called home had been that to him for many years. The feelings of being close but not close to his rider strongest there or it had been until he had come here. For many years he'd lived on the island and felt a small hum at the back of his mind, felt rather than heard and yet know it was a hum no more. It was a song, a song that made him feel things he'd never felt before, a connection that he'd long for all his life and had made him do things he'd hated in order to see it through._

_Each morning he woke it was to the song, the sounds of it calming him, fuelling him, his flames getting stronger, his flight like that of a much younger dragon, and his green eyes finally returning their glow. Over time they'd faded and lost their color, their magic dimming as he rested and waited but now they glowed like that unnatural fire and with them he could see as he had once done. He could see his rider as he headed to the walled city, see his plans as if he spoke them to him and at night when he closed his eyes he could see him stand in front of him._

_His dark hair and grey eyes, the way he looked into his own, love, respect, honor, and gratitude all being expressed as he felt his touch. Their connection was growing stronger and soon enough they'd be together, he'd hear his name spoken aloud, and together they'd rule the skies. The past was the past, he knew that now and all that mattered was the future, their future. Rider and dragon as one, as it was meant to be and how it had come to pass didn't matter when compared to that._

" _If I look back I am lost, so no more shall I look back, not when the future comes my way."_

**Riverlands 298 AC.**

**Jon Snow.**

He woke up from the dream and found Arya snuggled beside him, his little sister almost refusing to let him out of his sight, even after he'd told her the truth of who he was. Jon had been worried about her reaction but once he made it clear that she was still his family, still his little sister, and nothing could ever change that, it was as if he'd not told her at all. True she knew it and believed it but to her, he was Jon and that in truth was all he ever wished to be when it came to Arya. Leaning down he placed a soft kiss on her forehead and made his way to Arthur for their morning spar.

That the knight was already up and waiting was no great surprise and as they moved toward the open space, Jon felt he should tell him about his dream.

"I dreamed of her again." he said as they walked.

"Where was she this time?" Arthur asked.

"Still in the same place, Qarth."

"The greatest city there ever was or will be." Arthur said.

"He reached her." Jon said as they took up their stance.

"Barristan?" Arthur asked, his voice showing he wasn't quite on board with this yet.

"Aye. I know how you feel about him Arthur, but she needs him and he is true." Jon said, Arthur, nodding as they began to spar.

He lasted longer but the result was the same, Arthur still far out of his reach when it came to swordplay. Jon though felt he was improving and so he waited for Arthur to give him his pointers and tell him what he was doing wrong, only for another voice to ring out and let him know he was getting much better.

"When did you learn to fight like that?" Arya said, Jon, turning around to see her sitting on the grass and looking at him.

"When did you wake up?" he asked seeing her smirk as she rose to her feet.

"I was awake the moment you left, brother. Now my question?" she said smiling.

"I've been training each day with Ser Arthur and with the others, I need to improve if I wish to wield this." he said holding Blackfyre up.

"You have, you're much better since last I saw you, just as I am." she said braggingly.

"You are?" he asked.

"Aye, spar with me and you'll find out." she said the cheekiness something he'd missed since he left Winterfell all those moons ago.

"Very well." he said seeing her smile grow bigger.

She had gotten better and he heard Arthur say something about water dancing which made her sad for a moment, Arya shaking it off so they could continue. Once they did, he stood behind her and showed her some moves, Arthur looking on and telling them both to move their stances a little. His little sister eating it all up as if it was the greatest meal she'd ever been given. When he heard the rest of the camp stir though he knew their playtime was over, it was time to get to work and they had a lot of it to do.

"I need to speak to the others, Arya. I have to make plans for what's to come." he said softly.

"Sansa?"

"And the war." he said and she nodded.

"Do I have to go and wait until you're done?" she asked looking to the ground.

"No." he said as her head snapped towards him "She's your sister too and it's our family that's fighting is it not?"

"It is." Arya said jumping away from his when he went to muss her hair.

"Quick as a shadow." she said with a giggle.

They walked back to the camp and broke their fast, Jon finding the others all looking to him as if they were waiting to be told what to do. He looked to Arthur and saw him nod and after reaching out to softly touch his sister's arm, he began to speak.

"I want to thank you all for what you've done for me, without you I wouldn't have been able to rescue my sister and I owe you a debt that one day I hope to repay." he said his voice firm and seeing Arthur's smile, regal.

"There is no need to thank us your grace." Ser Richard said looking at him.

"There is much more that is needed to be done and I know the Brotherhood serves no lord or king, but I'd ask for your help all the same." he said as Beric and Thoros nodded, the former speaking.

"What is it you would ask of us your grace?"

"Harwin, Alyn, I'd ask you to ride to Riverrun, my sister's rescue needs to be spoken of and her mother and my brother need to know she's safe."

"We will Jon, we'll take Lady Arya back to her mother safely, you have my word on it." Harwin said.

"Jon?" Arya said, her voice panicked as she grabbed his arm.

"My sister stays with me, Harwin. I can protect her better than any, in time I'll bring both her and my other sister back to their mother but until then, Arya doesn't leave my side." he said feeling the grip loosen as Arya relaxed.

"Then you just wish us to deliver the message?" Harwin asked.

"Aye, Arya will give you a letter as will I, can you do this?" he asked seeing both Harwin and Alyn nod.

"Ser Richard I know you wish to stay by my side and I wish it could be so but I have need of you elsewhere." he said and Ser Richard looked to him.

"Whatever you command, your grace." Ser Richard said.

"The Lords of the Narrow Sea, Ser Richard, at present they support their liege lord but both Ser Arthur and yourself and my own knowledge of my family's history tell me that in their heart they'd wish to support my claim, you believe this true?"

"I do your grace."

"Then I'd ask you to ride to them, Ser Richard, ride and tell them the truth of me, I'll give you a letter that speaks of it signed by myself and Ser Arthur, ask them to stand down and await my call." he said looking to the man.

"Consider it done, your grace." Ser Richard said and he nodded.

"Lord Beric." he said softly looking to the man.

"Your grace?"

"I know you feel the Riverlands is where you should be, however, I'd ask of you an important task. The Mountain and Lorch have paid for their crimes but I was not the only one they wronged, I'd ask you to bring their heads and a letter to House Martell."

"Why me your grace, would Ser Richard not be better served or Ser Arthur?"

"Ser Richard has his own task Lord Beric and Ser Arthur won't leave my side, I ask it of you because of your own ties to Dorne. Your betrothed, your squire, you can gain an audience where others may not, can I count on you, my lord?"

"You can." Beric said as Arthur looked to Ned Dayne who seemed a little put out that he was being sent away.

"As for the rest of us, your grace?" Thoros asked.

"I need to rescue my sister, Thoros, and to do that I must go to King's Landing. Arya has a way into the Red Keep and Ser Arthur knows it better than most, I'll not lie, it's a dangerous undertaking and one I'd not command any man to take, so I'll ask for volunteers and hold it against no man who doesn't wish to join me in it."

"You have my sword, your grace." Thoros said.

"My bow." Anguy said.

"Mine too."

"Aye, I'm with you, your grace."

Later as he wrote the letters he could feel Arya's eagerness to get underway, his sister almost pacing up and down while he struggled to put down in words his offer to House Martell. He'd already written letters to the Lords of the Narrow Sea, to his brother and Lady Catelyn and Arya had finished her own. Now as he put the finishing touches to perhaps the most important of them all he hoped it would be enough. Blowing against the ink he waited until it was dry before he folded it and brought it to Lord Beric. Arthur and Ned Dayne had said their goodbyes and only the promise that he'd accept him as his squire had been enough to get the boy to agree to leave.

"Lord Beric." he said handing him the letter.

"Your grace." Beric said with a small bow.

"I hope to see you soon, my lord."

"As do I." Beric said.

He watched the lord as he moved away, the young lad looking back at his uncle who gave him a smile which the boy returned. Ser Richard, Harwin, and Alyn had all already set off for their own missions and it was time for them to set off for theirs. Arthur, Thoros, Anguy, Gendry who'd said he knew Flea Bottom better than any and who Arya had vouched for were already mounted up. Jon walked towards them and saw Arya playing with Ghost and Nymeria. The two wolves wouldn't be able to enter the city and yet would come with them some of the way, still, it felt like they were saying goodbye as he joined his sister and stroked Ghost's fur.

After he helped Arya onto their horse, his sister refusing one of her own and instead wanting to ride in front of him, Jon climbed up behind her and made ready to ride hard.

"For Sansa." he said softly as Arya leaned against his chest and the horses an wolves began to ride further south than he had ever been before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Up Next an injury causes Robb to make a hard choice that could change the war, Dany arrives in Astapor and gets an army. In the North, disaster looms and Jon and Arya arrive to enact a rescue that’s fraught with difficulties and requires quick thinking


	5. Rescue.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An injury causes Robb to make a hard choice that could change the war, Dany arrives in Astapor and gets an army. In the North, disaster looms and Jon and Arya arrive to enact a rescue that’s fraught with difficulties and requires quick thinking

**(Not in chronological order).**

**King's Landing 299 AC.**

**Arthur.**

Six and ten years it had been since he set foot in this city and the first thing that hit him was that it smelt even worse than it had back then. Over the years he'd considered coming here, images of finding the fat Stag and gutting the man were never far from his mind. That he'd not was down to the boy that now risked so much to save a girl he thought a sister. It worried him that Rhaegar risked so much for a girl that not only wasn't truly who he thought she was but who according to his other sister had never treated him well.

Lady Catelyn's influence had only extended to Sansa though, that much was clear in how Arya and Rhaegar interacted. Arthur finding himself picturing a little girl with dark hair and violet eyes and imagining that she and Rhaegar would have had the same type of relationship. It was one that he and Ashara had shared, one that he knew Oberyn and Elia had too. A closeness that only a true brother and sister could feel and so the girl to him was just that. Her sister though, her he didn't know how he'd feel about. The more he'd learned the less he liked her and hearing of the incident with the wolves only made that even clearer. It had annoyed Rhaegar too but his king held it in well, something that he was managing to do even better since they'd headed south.

A king needed many skills and he'd teach him as much as he could. Some though only a king could teach himself and so he was happy to see on those Rhaegar was learning well. The tunnels they rested in were dark and damp and while Arya had managed to get them in, they weren't as helpful as he'd wished. Each time he'd taken the chance to look above them he'd found they were further and further from where they needed to be. It was frustrating and the longer they stayed, the more dangerous it was becoming, but Rhaegar refused to leave without his sister and so Arthur was left with no choice but to guard his back.

"I'm telling you it's this way." Arya said rising to her feet.

"We've been that way, Arya, it's not." Rhaegar said.

"Jon, trust me." Arya said pleadingly.

"Arya, it's not that way, I'll go if you ask it of me but it's not." Rhaegar said and Arthur nodded when he looked at him, knowing he was right.

"We should have brought Ghost and Nymeria." Arya said disappointedly as she sat down beside her brother.

"The wolves are too well known, Arya. We'd not be able to protect them in here." Rhaegar said and she nodded.

"What if we can't find her?" Arya said her voice soft and low.

"I found you didn't I." Rhaegar said and even in the darkness of the tunnels, Arthur could see the smile on the girl's face.

When they heard the sound of footsteps heading their way both he and Rhaegar jumped to their feet, Dawn and Blackfyre out in an instant and he knew that Arya had her Needle out too.

"It's Gendry." Rhaegar said allowing him to relax.

"I've brought food." Gendry said when he reached them, Arthur accepting the apples and the bread that Rhaegar threw his way.

"Any word on Sansa?" Rhaegar asked as he took a chunk of bread and gave it to his sister, the sound of her eating it reminding Arthur very much of a wolf.

"I saw her near the Sept, she had a Kingsguard and some other guards with her." Gendry said his words muffled as he ate too.

"Was she hurt?" Rhaegar asked.

"Not that I saw, she looked well, Jon." Gendry said and Arthur heard the relieved sounds that came from both Rhaegar and Arya at that.

After they'd eaten he looked over to see Arya cuddle up against her brother and Rhaegar wrap his arm around her. The girl was asleep in moments and he watched as Rhaegar looked at her, how protectively he held her and how comfortable and secure she looked next to him. After they'd rescued her it was only when she was Rhaegar or her wolf that he saw her that way. All other times she had a wariness about her, her eyes looking in all directions at once as she sought out danger.

He'd suggested that she stay with Thoros and the wolves, that it would be for the best if just he and Rhaegar entered the city. Both his king and the girl herself soon making it clear that was unacceptable to either of them.

" _Where Jon goes, I go." Arya said defiantly and Arthur still chuckled when the thought of the look on both their faces when she'd done so._

Getting into the city hadn't been hard, the cart and supplies they purchased and the clothing they wore marked them out for the smallfolk they pretended to be. Hiding Dawn and Blackfyre had been more difficult but seeing food in the cart had eased their passage. Though it came at the cost of some of that food to the gold cloaks themselves before they were let past. Once inside it had been harder though and they'd needed to wait until night fell before they could head to the entrance into the tunnels. It had taken them three days to get the rest of their men inside the city and another day to organize the ship they would board to get them away from the city once they had rescued Sansa Stark.

Thoros and the rest of their men had left to go to Duskendale and would meet them there along with the wolves before they then made their way to Maidenpool. There were no ships going North from King's Landing and his king wished to go North once this was done.

" _Maidenpool to White Harbor, Arthur, and then to Skagos." Rhaegar said._

" _And the dragon?" he asked._

" _And the dragon." Rhaegar said._

" _Do you truly believe it can be tamed, your grace?" he asked worriedly._

" _There's a phrase in my head, Arthur, one that I don't know where it came from, it's Valyrian if you'd believe such a thing." Rhaegar said._

" _What's the phrase?"_

" _Zaldrīzes buzdari iksos daor."_

" _What does that mean?" he asked confused._

" _A dragon is not a slave." Rhaegar said smiling at him, his dark grey eyes full of mirth as he looked at him while doing so._

It filled him with worry at first until Rhaegar had explained it to him. His king telling him that the bond between a dragon and its rider was a willing one. That just like with Ghost the dragon would have its own mind and while he could ask it to do something, he could never command it to. When he then told him that his aunt had three dragons of her own and they were growing, he looked at him oddly. The dreams they shared were not something he understood though he did feel relieved when he was told that Barristan was by her side. The thoughts of seeing his former brother once more was something he'd almost given up on unless it was to be at the end of his sword.

Gendry left the next morning to fetch more food and to make sure their men were ready. He, Rhaegar, and Arya giving the tunnels yet another go and finding once more that none of them led to where they wished to. By the time they made it back to where they'd rested the night before, Gendry had already returned. The news he brought them making Rhaegar smile and yet Arthur could only worry that they'd be far too exposed.

"We can do this, Arthur, I know we can." Rhaegar said to him as they moved from the tunnels.

"If we cannot then I need your word, your grace. If the danger is too much, we run." he said pleadingly, not willing to lose the king he'd waited for so long to serve.

"On my honor, Arthur." Rhaegar said and he nodded, blinking from the light as they left the tunnels.

**Winterfell 299 AC.**

**Bran.**

How had it come to this? how had he messed up this badly? Winterfell had fallen to less than thirty men and he couldn't believe he'd been so foolish. The ravens had come from Deepwood Motte and Moat Cailin, the Greyjoy's had attacked and been pushed back. When news then came from Torrhen's Square he'd agreed with Ser Rodrik that as acting Lord of Winterfell his job was to send aid when called for, he should have waited.

The men from Moat Cailin and those from Deepwood Motte were sure to march his way and yet he'd seen the thirst for glory in the eyes of the guards in Winterfell. Ser Rodrik had wished to lead his men and see them drive the squids from their lands and Bran in his hubris had wished for a victory to name as his own too. Robb was off winning battles and earning acclaim and he knew that Jon would soon do the same. His brother would rescue his sisters and songs would be sung of him one day. Who would sing songs of him? What great deeds could a cripple accomplish? So he had sent his men and through them, their glory would be reflected onto him.

"I am a fool." he said softly as he looked to Rickon, Osha, and Hodor.

Ser Rodrik would return he knew, he'd return and take the keep back but the damage was done. Septon Chayle, Alebelly, Mikken, and what had happened to Palla that was all on him. There was blood on his hands that he would never be able to repay though he swore one day he would do something to make up for it. He heard the footsteps and looked to Summer and Shaggydog, the wolves remaining calm and letting him know that it was only Jojen and Meera returning.

"What news?" Osha asked.

"The bodies still swing from the gates but the Iron Born are afraid." Jojen said.

"Why? they have the keep." he said angrily.

"But they'll not hold it for long." Meera said happily.

"Have you seen it?" he asked Jojen the boy shaking his head, his dreams were now ones that Bran knew he should have placed more faith in.

"The men march, Lord Brandon they march and they will take the keep back and then the so-called Prince of Winterfell will pay for his crimes." Meera said.

"I'll see his head removed from his shoulders, I'll take it myself." he said his anger rising.

"Perhaps or perhaps the gods have a different fate in store for Theon, only time will tell." Jojen said.

"Stop talking in riddles, had you just said it clear…" he said before feeling guilty for doing so "I'm sorry, I didn't mean.."

"It's a hard thing you face Bran, but you won't do so alone." Jojen said and he nodded.

He ate the food they brought him and listened as Rickon argued and said he wanted to see father. Bran losing his temper once more with his brother and telling him that father was dead only for Rickon to say he was not, that he'd seen him, him, and his white wolf. It took him aback for a while before he realized that he was seeing Jon and not their actual father. Bran asked him to tell him exactly what he had seen and told him that he was sorry for being angry with him.

"I saw him with Sansa and Arya, the white wolf and the grey, they were on a ship and it was cold. Father stood at the front and spoke to them both, he told them that the pack would be together again soon and that he had a surprise for all those who had dared harm us." Rickon said as he, Jojen, Meera, and Osha listened.

"Hodor." the giant said his voice loud and forcing all of them to turn and look at him.

Hodor sat there with a smile on his face, one he'd not seen on it for days and one that he remembered most clearly from the day the wolves had been found and brought to Winterfell. He'd been more excited that day than he'd ever seen him, repeating his one word over and over and smiling when Jon had allowed him to pet Ghost.

"Hodor." Hodor said standing up, his arms out wide as he began to run around the crypt.

"The giant's lost what little mind he had." Osha said and Bran almost wished to agree, instead, he found himself drawn to Hodor as he realized he was pretending to fly.

"Hodor, Hodor." Hodor said and then he watched as he took the torch and threw it to the ground "Hodor, Hodorrrr."

Bran looked to the torch and to Hodor watching as the giant picked the torch up again and moved with it in his hands, both his arms outstretched once more and this time when he threw the torch to the ground, Bran could almost have sworn it looked like flames coming from his mouth. He looked from the ground to the man, heard him say the words over and over, and then something seemed to click in his head.

"He thinks he's a dragon." he said and Hodor looked at him.

"Hodor."

"You're a dragon, Hodor?" Rickon asked his brother smiling as he seemed to enjoy the game that Hodor was playing.

"Hodor." Hodor said shaking his head.

"But someone is?" he asked.

"Hodor." was the reply, Bran starting to hear the difference in the way he said the word each time.

As confused as he was there was something about the way Hodor sounded and acted and so he thought about closing his eyes and warging into Summer. When he was in his wolf he felt smarter somehow, it was as if he understood things better and just as he was about to do so, he remembered what had been said before Hodor had begun to move around the crypts. Rickon had been speaking about his father, was that it? Was Hodor saying his father was a dragon? That made no sense and his father was dead, he knew that, he'd cried for him when the raven's scroll had come but no it hadn't been father, it had been Jon that Rickon spoke of.

"Jon." he said and heard Hodor's voice.

"Hodor."

"Jon is a dragon?" he asked and Hodor's voice grew louder.

"Hodor, Hodor."

It made no sense, Jon couldn't be a dragon, what did that even mean. Could it be that Jon was going to get a dragon? Is that what it meant? That made some sense to him, even if there were no such things as dragons anymore but that fitted what Rickon had said, didn't it?"

"Rickon, was the surprise that father was going to get, was it a dragon?" he asked as the others looked to him.

"I don't know, only that it was a surprise and it was going to hurt them all, Lions, Krakens, Stags, all of them." Rickon said.

He didn't understand it but as he slept that night he took some comfort in the idea that perhaps Jon knew where there was a dragon. The smile on his face was a true one as he imagined his brother bringing a dragon to bear on all of those that had hurt them. Bran found himself hoping that he'd be there to see it, to see his brothers again, his sisters, and to tell them all how sorry he was for failing them and for losing their home.

How many days they'd been in the crypt when Osha said they should make their escape more true, he didn't' know. Suggesting to Rickon that they split up and he go with Osha while Bran went with Meera, Jojen and Hodor didn't go down well with his brother though. Nor did it with Hodor himself who refused to carry him. Nothing that he, Jojen, Meera, or Osha could say would make him do so and Bran couldn't leave if he didn't take him. He hated it here in the darkness of the crypts, the cold here felt very different than the wind and snow of the open spaces. Even compared to the Godswood it was quiet and he was beginning to think they'd come here to die and rest with the rest of the dead.

One day their bodies would be found and at least they'd not need to move them far to see them buried he thought bitterly. Had he the use of his legs then he could have left here days ago and it only further proved just how useless he truly was that he could not. He'd lost his home, cost people their lives and now wasn't even able to see his brother safe. As the days went on he was feeling worse and worse, with only Summer able to even garner a smile from him. His self-pity was something that was his and his alone and yet he knew the others suffered because of it.

"Bran, Bran wake up." Meera said and he looked at her almost panicked.

""Hodor." Hodor said excitedly.

"The keep, Bran, Winterfell it's yours once more." Meera said as Jojen looked at him and Osha smiled.

"What?"

"They've taken it back, it's fallen to the North." Meera said and Bran sat up a little straighter, he hoped that Theon had been taken prisoner, no, he prayed for it.

**The Westerlands 299 AC.**

**Robb Stark.**

Ashemark had been a big success and he'd ordered the army to keep marching. The Greatjon had been sent on to capture the gold mines and Maege Mormont had captured thousands of cattle that she intended to drive back to Riverrun. It was meat that would be much appreciated he knew and that would wound the Westerlands even more than their keeps being taken. Now as he looked at the Crag that lay in the distance in front of him, he felt they'd take it easy enough.

The Crag was not Ashemark and the Westerlings were certainly not the Marbands. Still, the taking of a keep was a difficult proposition, and to be careless or flippant about it would lead to dead men. So Robb obsessed over the plans just as he had over all the other plans he'd made. In the end, he decided on a night attack, the Smalljon and Black Walder Frey both asking for and being given leave to lead the climbing parties.

After Olyvar helped him into his armor, Robb found himself brushing his fingers over Grey Wind's fur as he waited on night to fall. Looking up to the night sky he wondered if Jon was out there doing something the same, not taking a keep of course, but was he like him, was he with Ghost somewhere rubbing his hands over the white fur? He smiled at the thought of it, imagining he was and hoping that the dreams he had where it wasn't just Jon stroking his wolf's fur were true. Gods he missed them all, his sisters, Arya and Sansa, his brothers Jon, Bran, and Rickon, he even missed their wolves he thought as he looked down at Grey Wind.

"Aye, you miss them too, don't ya boy." he said rubbing the wolf behind the ear.

When the night seemed dark enough he gave the order and watched as the Smalljon and the others moved to the walls. Only the sheer size of the Smalljon marking him out as different from the men around him. With a wave of his hand, Robb then gave the order to move toward the gate, and with Grey Wind beside him, they marched. His sword remained in its sheath as the fighting for him wouldn't start until the gate fell.

The arrows and oil came down first, Robb staying covered under his shield as the ram was moved to the gate. He knew there were those among his men who wished him elsewhere and his granduncle had almost demanded he lead from the back. Brynden telling him that not all king's led from the front and that he was too important to their cause to risk himself so. That he did so in the privacy of his tent and brooked no further argument when Robb told him that he'd lead his men his way, was something that he appreciated, as was his counsel.

He knew that for every man that wished him to lead from the back there were five or even ten more who took comfort in him leading how he did. They fought harder and fiercer beside their king and that alone was worth the risk he thought. Or did until he felt the pain and felt himself begin to falter. Robb briefly found himself in a dream, he was a wolf and he had bitten deep into a knight's throat and then it was darkness.

"Where am I, ahhhh." he said trying to rise and then feeling a soft hand push him gently back to the bed.

"You should not move, you've been hurt and the wound is only beginning to heal, your grace" a soft voice said and he opened his eyes to see a woman looking down at him.

"I...My Lady, where am I?"

"The Crag, your grace." the girl said and he looked closer at her.

She was young, perhaps his own age, dark of hair and eye and he found himself thinking her pretty before he blushed when he realized she'd been looking at him as he was her. He blushed, even more, when he realized that he was uncovered in her presence. His shirt was nowhere to be seen and he feared he may not be wearing small clothes either. The girl must have seen some of that worry in his face as she looked at him concernedly.

"Your attack was successful your grace, the Crag has fallen to you and your men. My mother Lady Sybell tasked me with caring for you."

"Your name, My lady?" he asked.

"Lady Jeyne Westerling, your grace." she said smiling softly as she did so.

"I thank you for your care, Lady Jeyne, my men, is there one nearby?" he asked and she nodded as she moved to the door.

"I'll send someone to you, your grace, and fetch you some food." she said giving him a curtsy before she left the room.

He lay back in the bed, the wound was deep and he'd been very lucky but he felt well and it only bothered him when he moved. Closing his eyes, he was just about to drift back off to sleep when he heard the door open and looked to see his granduncle enter. Robb tried to sit up but Brynden waved him off and moved to grab a jug of water when he coughed.

"Drink this your grace." his granduncle said handing him the mug and Robb did as he was bid, taking small swallows of the water before Brynden took the mug back from him and placed it back on the table.

"How many did we lose?" Robb asked.

"A few, less than twenty. We took the keep easily and other than your own injury…"

"I feel well." he said looking at the older man and trying to reassure him.

"Aye, the Maester said you'd recover and you've been waking on and off." Brynden said.

"The Lords?" he asked coughing again and taking the mug himself which brought a small smile from Brynden.

"Have shored up our hold on the keeps we've taken and the mines. The Greatjon went scouting with some of his men, the man was bored as fuck, his words not mine, your grace." Brynden said making him laugh a bit as he pictured him saying it.

"Did the Maester say when I can get out of this bed?" he asked and Brynden nodded.

"A few more days and I'd ask you to listen, Robb, as your kin." Brynden said the concern clear in his voice and Robb said that he would.

They spoke for a little longer and then Lady Jeyne arrived back carrying some soup and bread. He ate as much as he could and felt the better for it but soon he was asleep once more. Robb finding himself in Grey Wind and seeing the large figure of the Greatjon as he spoke to some men including his granduncle. He tried to get closer to see if it was possible to hear what they were speaking about but he found he could not. Their expressions though worried him and when he woke the next morning and Jeyne brought him some food, he asked her if anything had happened.

She told him that she knew of nothing and when he asked her to eat with him, she did. Robb listening as she said her father had been captured and was being held by the Mallisters at Seagard. It surprised him that she never pleaded to him to free him. Instead, she only asked if he was being treated well and told him some of the horrible things that the Lannisters had said about him and the men in North and how she feared for him and for the rest of her family.

"Do I look like a man who turns into a wolf and eats men?" he asked with a soft smile on his face.

"No, your grace." she said softly.

"I assure you that your father will be treated as well as you're treating me, my lady, as will your family. I give you my word on it." he said and she looked at him, the relief on her face making her seem even younger than she was and the earnest way she looked at him made her seem even more beautiful.

"I thank you, your grace." she said looking to the plate, Robb eating more of the food more to please her than to feed himself.

She left when the Greatjon arrived and Robb could only have wished she'd not or that the man himself hadn't come to see him. The news he bore broke his heart and only proved what a complete fool he had been. He had thought him a brother, as true as Jon was and he'd betrayed him in the worst way imaginable. Even hearing that the North itself was safe and that an army marched to take Winterfell back couldn't fix the pain that he now felt.

In his life he believed he'd only ever truly cried twice, the first time had been when news had come from King's Landing about his father. Robb had sobbed and felt exactly as he did now, though now the tears were tinged with something else, guilt. He had caused this, his mistakes and his alone, the mistakes that Jon had called him out for. What a fool he'd been, what a complete and utter fool he thought as he sobbed in the bed.

He didn't hear her come into the room, but he felt her arms around him and he cried into her chest. Just as he had with his mother when his father had died, he once again cried into a women's chest and sought comfort in her arms. Jeyne though was not his mother and before he knew it he felt her lips on his and he was kissing her hungrily, desperately. She allowed him to touch her breast and for a moment the pain was gone, the world outside of that room, and that bed was lost to him.

" _Fuck the Riverlands, fuck your crown, and fuck anyone who's not us. Arya and Sansa, Robb, they're what's important not land, or revenge or justice, family."_

The words came unbidden and he moved from Jeyne, the hurt look on her face, not one that he liked being the cause of but in the end it was one he almost welcomed.

"Forgive me, my lady, I lost control of myself." he said not looking her in the eye.

"There is nothing to forgive, your grace." she said though he could sense some hurt in her words and he knew she didn't truly believe them.

"I must rest, my lady." he said and she nodded as she got up from the bed.

Robb watched her as she walked to the door, her eyes looking back at him and he knew it would take but a word for her to stop and for the pain that he felt to be removed. Yet he could not, he'd been fool enough in what he'd done, to do more foolish things would only prove him unworthy. When the door closed behind her, he lay back on the bed and closed his eyes. Finding his dreams to be ones that he welcomed, dreams of wolves running in the woods and of a pack reuniting, and though it was not as full as it had once been, it was a pack still.

They left The Crag a week later, Robb now pushing further into the Westerlands. He could do nothing but avenge his brother's deaths and though it was Theon he blamed for them and who he swore he'd see lose his head, it was the Lannisters who truly were at fault. He may not be able to take Casterly Rock without ships but Lannisport or some of the other keeps and maybe then he'd make Tywin Lannister feel how he was feeling now. Looking down at Grey Wind he could see the wolf seemed eager to feast on more Westerlands men and he swore that he'd give him all that he could.

**Astapor 299 AC.**

**Dany.**

Both her knights had argued with her when she'd made the deal with Kraznys. Dany listened to their advice and yet knew somehow that she was right in this. She'd spent the night before the meeting at the Plaza of Punishment hoping that he'd come to her, only to be left disappointed. Her shadow had not shown himself since she'd set sail and she worried that something had happened to him. A part of her knew that he was unhurt though and that he would come to her once more. His words that he'd whispered in her ear and the promises that he'd made to her were ones she felt certain he'd live up to. Then she had taken the city and the unsullied from men who had named themselves masters and she found she was eager to see her shadow once more, eager to share her success with him.

Dany spent the days after taking the city trying to decide what it was she would do next and getting to know both the men and Missandei even better. She'd listened to Missandei tell the tale of her life and Dany had found herself growing angrier and angrier as the girl spoke. This child's suffering made her own almost pale in comparison and yet she held no great malice towards the men who'd seen her suffer. Instead she'd said something that had brought a tear to Dany's eye.

_"I would not have met Queen Daenerys Targaryen had I not been brought here." Missandei said and Dany hugged the girl tightly._

Grey Worm was a different matter, the man was as stoic as could be and Dany felt the Unsullied had chosen a good man to lead them. He too spoke not of the past but of the future and she wondered if that was the way the world needed to be. The past was the past and could not be changed, only the future was unwritten. It was to thoughts like this that she went to her bed that night. Drogon, Rhaegal, and Viserion were hunting and she could feel their joy at being in the air, her own soon coming to her after she had closed her eyes.

"If I look back I am lost." she whispered softly as she fell to sleep.

_She felt him long before she saw him, his hands touching her shoulders and turning her to face him. She could see more of him, his dark hair, his dark grey eyes, and her fingers reached out to touch what seemed to be a scar on his brow._

" _What happened?" she asked tracing the scar._

" _I got careless." he said before laughing "I'll not do so again."_

" _Make sure you do not." she said far more firmly than she had meant to and then she was laughing when he did._

" _You are safe?" he asked and she felt her heart beat a little faster at the worry he had in his voice for her._

" _I am, I have men now. An army." she said proudly._

" _In Astapor?" he asked and she gasped wondering how he knew._

" _How?" she asked._

" _I...I do not know. When I'm here, when I'm with you I feel things, I..sometimes what I feel here carries on to what I do there too." he said._

" _There?" she asked._

" _Westeros, our home, our kingdom." he said and she looked at him, seeing even more of him now, he was young or seemed it, as young as her and it made her long to see him more clearly, a strange thought then coming to her mind that she had to express._

" _Do you see me? All of me?" she asked._

" _I see a shadow, a silver shadow, I see violet eyes of a kind I'd not ever seen before and silver hair, I see parts of your face, your nose, your cheeks, your lips." he said touching each part that he mentioned and making her shiver as he did so._

" _Are you real? Is this?" she asked and then she felt his lips on hers and all thought and reason left her._

_It was longer than they had kissed before and it felt different, stronger, more real as if he was truly there with her and not a dream she was having of him. Which of them stopped it first she knew not and she found she hoped it had been them both. Dany smiling when she heard his breathing was just as deep as her own._

" _Did that feel real?" he asked and she smirked when she saw his lips curl into a smile, her fingers going to them and tracing them softly._

" _As real as anything that I care to know." she said._

" _I've sent help, they'll arrive soon, I ask you to wait for them and then to do as they suggest, will you?" he asked._

" _What will they ask of me?" she asked nervously._

" _That you come with them, that you let them bring you to me." he said and she felt her breath hitch as she swallowed._

" _For true? They will bring me to you for true?" she asked hopefully._

" _I told you that we would be together soon, it's almost time." he said as he kissed her again._

" _My men..what of my men.." she said as he began to fade away._

" _Trust in the Seahorse Daenerys Stormborn, trust in me." he said, and then he was gone._

She felt the loss of him more keenly when she woke the next morning. Dany then bathing and dressing and almost waking around in a daze until she broke her fast. It was as she doing so that she decided to speak to both Jorah and Ser Barristan Missandei too stayed in the room with them as they ate and spoke together.

"The Seahorse, Ser Barristan does that mean anything to you?" she asked as the knight looked at her curiously.

"House Velaryon, my queen. Their sigil is a silver Seahorse." Ser Barristan said.

"They were loyal to my family were they not?" she asked as she remembered some of what Viserys and Illyrio had spoken about when they'd talked of men in Westeros drinking secret toasts to their king.

"The most loyal house of all, my queen. House Velaryon and House Targaryen both share Valyrian blood and go back generations. The Old, the True, the Brave." Barristan said wistfully.

She sat there wondering if it could be true. Had her shadow somehow managed to send their lealest men her way? If so would that truly mean that she'd be taken to him? Would she finally be going home? Was it safe for her to do so? She had her dragons and her army, her shadow had a dragon too she believed and if he was sending for her then it must be safe, mustn't it? He'd not steered her wrong since she'd dreamed of him and had helped keep her safe? Without him, she'd not have known the truth about Ser Barristan or Ser Jorah, or at least not have known it yet.

"How many ships are there in Astapor, Ser Jorah?" she asked excitedly.

"I do not know, I'll find out, my queen." Jorah said as he made ready to rise.

"No including the three you arrived on my queen, there are two and twenty belonging to the Good Masters." Missandei said.

"How many men could a ship carry?" she asked no one in particular.

"Not enough, your grace, at a push perhaps a little over a hundred each." Ser Jorah said and she nodded.

They would need more ships, or they would need to leave more men behind than she wished to but perhaps they could manage it.

"Ser Jorah, ask Grey Worm to accompany me to the docks, I need to look at our ships. Ask Captain Groleo to join us also." she said rising from her chair.

That night she stood on the balcony facing the sea and watched as the dragons flew in the sky. They were bigger much bigger, Drogon was now twice the size of an elephant and his brothers were just as large. As they flew by her, she saw the way her son looked at her, felt him in her head, and though she knew he did not speak it, she felt the word in her head as if he had. It was a word that she'd been thinking herself all day, at the docks, when they returned and now as she looked to the water. She spoke it softly as she closed her eyes and saw the dark grey of his, as he imagined seeing those eyes for true.

"Soon." she said to the wind.

**Riverrun 299 AC.**

**Catelyn.**

They had fled in the night and were it not for Brienne then Cat would have been certain that she'd lost her mind. A shadow, a shadow with the face of Stannis Baratheon that's how Brienne described it and though she herself had not seen it that way, she had seen a shadow kill Renly and she knew they had no choice but to flee. It had hurt her to do so without Ned's bones but she had no choice and she knew that the Silent Sisters would see them brought back to Riverrun.

She had ridden hard, harder than she had ever done so before and it had been uncomfortable but she knew she had to make it back to Riverrun while they still held the Lannisters at bay. Each mile they traveled was one that she'd feared they'd be captured or that the Lannisters had made inroads and Riverrun was besieged once more. At night her dreams were filled with worries about Robb, Bran, Rickon, and her girls. Sansa and Arya unlike their brothers were already in the hands of those monsters and Petyr's words had left her fearful. Her prayers were for each of her children and for Jon Snow, both praying for his success in what he had set out to do and for his own safety too.

When they had finally reached Riverrun it was to great relief though there was annoyance soon to come. Not at the bodies that hung from the walls as the truth of them was soon mand known to her and she was more than thankful they'd not managed to free Ser Jaime. More that Edmure's soft heart was showing far too much and he had allowed the smallfolk into Riverrun. She worried about them as much as he did but they were at war and their stocks were needed for men who would fight and not to be split amongst those who could not. It wounded her to think that way but suffer though they might outside the walls, should the Lannisters prevail then they'd suffer even more.

"My lady, my oath still stands." Brienne said almost worriedly as they entered the gates of her home.

"And I am most grateful for it, Brienne. I'll see you're given rooms and then you can serve as my sworn shield." she said seeing the small smile that appeared on the large woman's face.

Over the next few weeks, she heard of Robb's successes and she felt her pride rise each time she listened to men speak of their king. Had she paid more attention then she'd have noticed how Edmure bristled while others were spoken of and the tales of the glory they'd achieved were spun. By the time she did notice, it was too late and her brother had marched even though he'd been told to wait and hold by his king. That he at least won his battles made her proud of him and when she spoke to their father, though he didn't truly reply, she felt he was proud of him too.

They were winning, every battle, every encounter they were winning, and yet she felt something begin to grow within her. A sense of dread that began to worsen each day and that she soon found the cause for. The first news that came from the North had led to cheers in the Great Hall, the Iron Born had been defeated at Moat Cailin and Deepwood Motte. Torrhen's Square was relieved and the Stoney Shore was now free of their attempts to reave. When news came from the Crag she had panicked, only to be assured the wound was not as bad as she feared and though she had wished, hoped, and prayed that her sense of dread was for that. The truth of it was far worse than she could ever have imagined.

" _My boys, why take them from me?"_

" _They were innocents, children."_

" _Were my sins that great?"_

" _Why not punish me then?"_

" _You could have taken me, not them, never them."_

The shouts went unanswered and the Seven who are One were cursed by her all through the night and most of the next day. Even when she finally collapsed and fell to sleep she did so with a curse for them on her lips. They rewarded her with her dreams, dreams that showed her girls and the suffering they were facing. Arya was being beaten by a man twice her size and Sansa forced against her will, her sweet daughter violated as men laughed and joined in.

Emptying her stomach in the privy when she woke, Cat felt that dread rise once more and so she asked for Brienne to come to her. Though she was not sure she could ever forgive the gods for what they'd taken from her, it was to them she prayed once again and it was in the Sept that she explained to Brienne her plan. To her credit, Brienne after trying to talk her out of it still agreed to do it and so it was set for that night. Cat spending the hours trying not to dwell on the treason that she was committing. The safe return of her girls instead the only thing that she let her mind consider.

"It's time, my lady." Brienne said and she nodded, the two of them walking to where Jaime Lannister was held.

They were halfway there when they were stopped and Cat cursed Edmure for sending for her, even telling the guards that she'd attend him after a little time.

"Lord Edmure insists, my lady." the guard said much to her annoyance.

Turning to follow him, she and Brienne were led to her father's solar, and as she entered alone it was to see her brother speaking to Harwin and Alyn, men she'd not seen since they'd left to head south with Ned.

"Cat, you must hear this." Edmure said with a smile on his face and it angered her to see him so happy.

"Hear what, what news could be so good that it would leave you joyful after what happened to your nephews?" she asked accusingly.

"Arya, Cat, Jon Snow has Arya." he said and she almost fainted to the ground in her relief, Harwin helping her to a seat while her eyes looked for the truth in Edmure's own.

"For true, you've seen her?" she asked turning to Harwin.

"I have milady, as close as you are to me now she were." Harwin said and Cat felt a weight fall from her chest.

"She's well, unharmed?" she asked frantically.

"She is milady. Both she and her wolf." Alyn said with a smile.

"Where is she?" she asked looking around as if by doing so Arya would appear in front of her.

"She, her brother, and some men have gone to King's Landing milady, to see to the Lady Sansa's rescue." Alyn said and she heard Edmure speak angrily to the man.

"You did not tell me this, he brought her there, I knew he was not to be trusted, he means to hand her to the Lannisters." Edmure said his voice almost a shout.

There was a time when she may have shouted as loud as he did, a time when she'd have believed the truth in those words. Had it been Sansa that Jon Snow had found then perhaps she may have believed them still, but not Arya. She had spent years trying to break the bond her youngest daughter had with Jon Snow and each time she'd only forced them closer together. They were closer than any of her own children, a truer brother and sister than even Robb and Sansa were, so no, he was not playing them false.

"Enough." she said loudly "Whatever mine own thoughts for the boy, he loves Arya for true and he'd not see her harmed, nor risked. If he brought her with him then he'll protect her, on that I have no doubts."

"Cat.."

"No Edmure, enough." she said and he quietened down as Harwin handed her letters from Jon Snow and Arya and then told her a tale that took her breath away.

That night she lay in her bed trying to come to terms with all that Harwin and Alyn had said and there was a lot for her to come to terms with. The Mountain was dead and his men defeated and it had been he that held Arya and not the Lannisters in King's Landing. Petyr had lied to her once again and she swore that whatever else happened she'd see that he paid for all he'd done. Hearing that one of the men who traveled with Jon Snow was actually Ser Arthur Dayne was surpassingly not the most shocking thing she'd heard that night. Now as she lay in her bed she found herself with a question on her lips that she would never find the answer to.

"Why Ned, why didn't you tell me who he truly is?" she asked as her tears fell and she held the pillow tightly.

**King's Landing 299 AC.**

**Sansa.**

Whether it was the fact that she was to be seen in public or that Lord Tyrion was doing his best to make sure that Joffrey and the Kingsguard couldn't get near her, mattered not. That she was and had been unhurt for a number of days and had only faced harsh words and even harsher looks was a welcome respite and one she appreciated. She had even been allowed to dress in far better clothing than she was normally allowed to wear.

Joffrey usually only allowed her to wear poorer dresses unless he wished to humiliate her in some way. That he took such pleasure in seeing her dress like a lady of a minor house was almost pathetic she felt. It showed him for what he truly was and she felt so very stupid for not seeing it sooner. Arya had been right, he was a false prince, all mouth and no britches she'd heard Jon say to Robb when they had been in Winterfell. It had been only that Jon had been trying to calm Robb down that had made her hold her tongue at the time and now she found herself happy that she had.

After breaking her fast, she was escorted to the carriages and despite having no wish to ride with her, it was with the queen that she'd sit. Sansa curtsying and making sure that she didn't smile on her face for such a sad occasion. It amazed her to see the queen so teary-eyed and she wondered if she actually did truly feel sad or was it yet another mummery of hers. Myrcella's own tears were far truer she felt and though she felt some sympathy for the girl being parted from her mother, there was some jealousy too. Unlike Sansa, Myrcella was getting to leave this city and for that, she was far luckier than her.

"You must write to me often, Myrcella, once a week, do you understand?" Cersei said through her tears.

"I will mother, I promise, you too Tommen." Myrcella said and Sansa heard Tommen's sob, it was the first sound the boy had made and she'd not even noticed him sitting alone in the corner of the carriage.

She could hear the people outside and she swore there were some angered words shouted at the passing procession. Whether Cersei heard them too and ignored them or whether she actually believed what she said, Sansa couldn't be sure, but she would speak the same words as the queen did should she be asked.

"They cheer for their princess, do you hear them Myrcella, hear how they love you so?" Cersei said and Sansa had to give it to the woman, if it was indeed a mummery then it was a most excellent one.

When they arrived at the docks, she stepped out last as she knew she must and then stepped back to allow the Royal Family to say their goodbyes. The look on Joffrey's face as he did so was one that clearly showed his indifference to his sister's feelings. He looked bored and almost eager to have her gone from his sight and after a brief moment between them and a much longer one with Tommen, it was Cersei's turn to say her goodbyes. Again Sansa found herself watching the mummery with a keen eye and she was sure now that was what it was. Cersei was making an even bigger deal of the parting now that she had an audience and after some time they were finally done.

How it had happened? Or what caused it? She had no idea, but she heard the angry shouts, and then before she knew it the carriage was being shaken from side to side. Everything after that was a blur, their guards surrounded them, women screamed and one moment she was by the queen's side and the next she was being pushed through the streets. She felt herself being lifted in the air and she screamed as she was carried by some unseen man. The queen, the guards, Joffrey all now far in the distance, and for a brief moment, she felt a joy she'd not felt in moons. Then the worry and truth of the situation she was in became clearer and she screamed, fought, and cried to no avail.

**Jon Snow.**

He told her to stay with him, close enough so that he could reach out and touch her and she swore that she would. Gendry promising that he'd make sure to keep his eyes on her at all times too. When he picked up the shit in his hand he was glad he'd worn a glove. Arya looked at him as if he'd lost his mind and when he smiled, she creased her brow. The aim was good and true, catching the prince right on his cheek and he heard his little sister's laugh when she saw what he'd done.

The riot that followed was one that had been waiting to happen and though he knew that men would die here today and that he had perhaps lit the fuse, he found his guilt to be something that he could live with. In time he would see the lives of the people were better but for now, he had only one other life that he was focused on ensuring that for. Jon moved when they began pushing the carriage and when he saw the red of her hair he nodded to Ser Arthur.

It took them some time to get to her and he had to gut a guard to do so, the small knife far easier to wield in a crowd than Blackfyre or Dawn. When he heard her scream as she was lifted onto Arthur's shoulders, Jon turned to Arya to let her know that she was unhurt. His little sister though had seen it even more clearly than he had. He needed to kill another man before they were free from the crowd and though he was not a guard, he felt no guilt in doing so. The way the man had looked at Arya and how his little sister had shouted his name when she'd been grabbed by him, was enough to settle the man's fate.

"This way." Gendry said and led them down an alley as Jon looked back at a screaming woman who was being dragged away by some other men.

He knew what was to be done with the woman and when Arya looked to him, he knew that she knew it too. His little sister both pleading for him to help the woman and knowing that they could not and it pained him to see that in her eyes. When he shook his head, she accepted it though and soon enough they were far from the sounds of the riot that was now taking place. Instead, it was Sansa's screams and pleading for them not to rape her that he and the others now listened to.

"Sansa, you're safe, you're safe, no one will harm you." he said moving to her as she moved away from him, either not recognizing him or still so scared that any man she saw right then would look the same way to her.

"Sansa, it's me, look, I'm here and Jon is here, we've come to rescue you." Arya said and he saw the look come over Sansa's face, the recognition first of Arya and then of him.

"Arya? Jon? It can't…"

That it was him that she hugged first may have been that he was nearer to her, though he liked to think it was not. His sister was shaking against him as she looked into his eyes before she then moved and hugged Arya too.

"How?" she asked and though he knew they'd much to speak on, now was not the time.

"We'll speak later, come, we've got a ship to catch, Here put this on, for your hair." he said handing his own hooded cloak.

"They'll send men, Jon." Ser Arthur said and he nodded.

"We move quickly, Sansa, you must hurry." he said and she took Arya's hand and nodded.

They were almost at the docks when the gold cloaks arrived, five of them in total and Jon turned to Gendry who moved in front of Arya and Sansa. The men were no match for them though and by the time Jon had killed the first of them, Arthur had killed the other four. Dawn in his hands as lethal as Ghost was and just as quick. Their other men were waiting for them near the ship and as soon as they saw them they gave the orders to cast off.

Both he and Arthur stood on the deck as the ship moved and though he half expected men to come and arrows or bolts to be fired, none arrived. Gendry had taken Arya and Sansa down to the cabins they'd booked and the captain had been well paid. Yet it wasn't until they were clear of Blackwater Bay that he felt comfortable enough to leave the deck.

"Thank you, Arthur." he said to a small nod, as they both then headed to the cabin.

She was unhurt, had stopped shaking, and the smile she greeted him with was one that she'd not sent his way in many a year. Yet he cared not and welcomed seeing it now. Taking a seat he told her where they were going and of events in the realm, Sansa telling both he and Arya what she'd heard of the North. How Winterfell had fallen and how Bran and Rickon had been killed by Theon, Jon heard Arya gasp before he shook his head.

"You felt it with Nymeria, Arya, as I did with Ghost, had they truly fallen then we'd know it." he said and Arya relaxed.

"They had raven's Jon, they spoke of it in court." Sansa said dejectedly.

"They also said that Robb eats dead men and turns into a wolf Sansa, I swear to you our brothers are not dead." he said and she nodded.

"Thank you, for coming for me." she said softly, her eyes not on him as if she feared he'd not accept her thanks.

"You're my sister, you never need to thank me." he said and she smiled as she looked up at him.

"Where are we going?" she asked.

"North." he said determinedly.

**Skagos 299 AC.**

_What he had felt as the danger passed so quickly that it filled him with excitement rather than just relieved his worry. His rider had proved himself once again and had shown that he was strong and fierce and that he was worthy of him. Even though he knew that should he be true that in time he'd prove worthy of him, it pleased him greatly to know that his rider already was. It fuelled his own desire to be the same and so he began to do more on his flights through the night sky._

_His flames were now even hotter and burned for longer, he flew faster in the air and was able to turn even more quickly. He fed twice a day instead of the usual once as he wanted to be stronger than he had ever been. What surprised him most though was that he found he had no desire for magic, no need for more of it. He'd been worried about that, the need for the same magic that he'd once gone so far to fill._

_There were no other dragons in the world other than the ones his rider felt that were far from them both. Dragons that he had no desire to consume but would if the need for magic told him that he must. If it was to be them or his rider then there was no other choice he could make and yet he felt no call, no need, no desire, and it was to him yet more proof that his rider and he would soon be together. That they would be as one and the skies would be their playground._

_When he slept he would reach out to his rider, sometimes to his joy it would be his rider reaching out to him. They would speak without speaking, be as one while being apart and each time they found each other he felt them growing closer. Today the feeling was something different, the sense of closeness was something new and it took him some time to realize why that was. He took to the sky and for the first time in his life, he didn't roar, he sang, he sang a song that he'd longed to sing since he'd hatched. A song that until now he didn't have a name for but as he sang it now he knew why he did so and finally he knew what the song was called._

_The Cannibal was soon to die and he would rise from its ashes, his rider was heading towards him finally. He was coming North and soon they'd be together just as they had both been born to be and so as he flew through the night sky, he sang The Song of Ice and Fire._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Up Next, We have a bonus chapter on Wednesday. Ser Richard meets with the Lords of the Narrow Sea, Beric meets with the Martells. Dany finally sees the face of her shadow lover and Jon heads North and meets with Wyman before finally coming face to face with the Black Dragon.


	6. Destiny is Calling me, Open up Your Loving Arms.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ser Richard meets with the Lords of the Narrow Sea and Beric meets with the Martells. Dany finally sees the face of her shadow lover and Jon heads North and meets with Wyman Manderly before finally coming face to face with the Black Dragon.

**Maidenpool 299 AC.**

**Arya.**

They had rescued her and she had played her part, a big part according to Jon and it made her so proud when he told her that. She had never doubted that he would, he'd rescued her from the Mountain and his men and so rescuing Sansa was easy compared to that Arya had felt. She'd been proved right too as they'd managed to get her sister out of King's Landing and onto the ship without even having one of their men suffer an injury. They'd taken her from right under the lion's noses and she would have loved to see their faces when they realized they'd lost their prized wolf.

Sansa had been a bit shaken up at first until she'd seen her and Jon and realized who it was that had come for her. Once they'd left Blackwater Bay and were sailing she'd felt far more relaxed though and when Jon had told her about Bran and Rickon, even she could see how relieved she was. She and her sister had talked, perhaps far more than they ever had truly. Both of them sharing what had happened since they had last seen each other, Sansa not quite telling her everything at first though as Arya had found her crying in her bed more than once.

When they departed the ship near Duskendale she could see how worried Sansa was, both her and Jon telling her that it was for the best. Jon had explained it to her as they had ridden to King's Landing, how they couldn't just take a ship North even if they were able to find one in King's Landing. Arya didn't truly understand it at first but she trusted that Jon knew best and so she was more than happy to let him decide what they should do. That it had also meant they were now back with Nymeria and Ghost where if they'd been able to sail right to the North they'd have not seen them for moons, only made her brother even more right.

"If Mother and Robb are in Riverrun is it not best we go there?" Sansa asked as they sat around their camp's fire.

"We don't know how many men are between us and Riverrun, Sansa. In Maidenpool we can take a ship to White Harbor and send ravens from there to your mother. Once she knows where you are then she can come to see you or from there we can make it to her far more easily." Jon said.

"I don't understand, how can we make it easier from there?" Sansa asked and Arya found herself looking at Jon as she did, he'd told her this too but she didn't really understand it either.

She watched as Jon moved closer to them, both she and Sansa looking on eagerly as he took his knife and began drawing in the dirt.

"We're here and Maidenpool is here, once we've taken a ship to White Harbor we'll be in the North, here." Jon said as they both looked on "The North is ours, it's full of our people and from here to Riverrun is under Robb's control. So we can travel those roads and should we meet any men then they're more than likely going to be Northmen or Riverlanders." Jon said.

"Would that not be the same if we go straight to Riverrun though?" Sansa asked before Arya could.

"Riverrun is here." Jon said "White Harbor here, so all of this." he motioned to the space between both places "Is friendly ground, Harrenhal is here." he marked it out with the knife "And that's where Tywin Lannister is based."

"So the ground between us and Riverrun is more likely to have Lannister men on it." she said and she felt her chest puff up when he smiled at her and nodded.

"Aye, it is. I also have something I must do in the North too, someone I need to meet." Jon said and she looked at him curiously.

While Sansa slept that night curled up beside Ghost as Jon had told the white wolf to protect her, Arya found she could not and so she went looking for Jon and found him and Ser Arthur sparring, only not quite. They were going through forms and as she stood some way off, she then began to go through them too. Jon, she knew sparred with Ser Arthur in the mornings and the nights and with her at least once a day also, he'd even allowed her some lessons with Ser Arthur too. This though seemed different and it confused her so much that she let out a much louder sigh than she had intended when she messed up a form.

"You may as well come out of the shadows little sister." Jon said and she moved forward with a sheepish look on her face.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"We're sparring." Jon said and she frowned at him, her creased brow and annoyed look provoking a laugh from her brother.

"You can spar without clashing swords, little wolf, join us." Ser Arthur said and she smiled as she moved beside them.

Jon took time to show her what to do and after a few moments, she began to feel it. It was the movements, the stance, the swing, and she felt as if she was fighting an invisible opponent. By the end of it, she was even tired and sweating a little and so she welcomed the water when Jon gave it to her and the privacy when Ser Arthur left them alone. Or as alone as he ever left Jon these days.

"When we get to White Harbor, you're leaving aren't you?" she said her voice almost cracking as she spoke.

"Why do you say that?"

"I…you said that you have to meet someone, but it's not in Whiter Harbor is it?" she asked not looking at him.

"No, it's in Skagos." Jon said making her gulp.

"There are cannibals there, Jon." she said worriedly and was confused by his laugh.

"You've no idea, little sister." he said chuckling still.

"You're going to leave me aren't you, leave me in White Harbor and not take me with you, even though you promised me you would." she said rising to her feet, the thoughts of him leaving her alone making her more hurtful than angry.

"Arya…Arya." he said grabbing her hand before she could run away "Look at me."

She turned to face him, her grey eyes that were now threatening tears looking into his darker grey eyes that looked at her how they always had. The smile on his face was one that made her want to scream and shout as for a moment she thought it was there because of her upset.

"Where I'm going is dangerous, Arya." he said and she felt her worries grow "But…" he said and she laughed despite how she felt.

"Father always said." she said making him chuckle too.

"I don't think he'd have ever wished you to hear that word, Arya Stark." Jon said as if he was chiding her.

"What, Horseshit?" she said laughing some more, her eyes on his as she felt her hope rise, everything before the word But was Horseshit after all.

"But, us being apart is more dangerous. The Lone wolf falls but the pack survives." he said and he had barely finished speaking when she threw herself into his arms.

Later she asked him why he'd not told Sansa the truth about himself and he had her laughing even more truly when he answered.

" _What do we always say?" he asked._

" _Don't tell Sansa." she said as he mussed her hair._

He explained to her that soon enough the entire realm would know who he was and that once they got to Skagos he'd show her that he was a dragon as much as he had ever been a wolf. She wasn't sure she liked the thought of him being a dragon but he told her once again that she was his little sister and that was all she needed to hear.

The further they got from King's Landing, the more Sansa seemed to become as she had used to be. There were some differences too though and she found her sister far less annoying than she usually did. Jon said it was because she'd missed her and Sansa even told her that she'd missed her too, which had surprised her. Not as much as when Jon had suggested that Sansa learn how to use a knife and not only had her sister agreed but she'd done so enthusiastically.

By the time they reached Maidenpool, Sansa was more than able to protect herself a little and had even begun carrying a knife in her dress. Jon had asked Thoros to teach her rather than he or Ser Arthur and the red priest had taught her well. When she'd asked Jon why he'd not done so himself, he said that for Sansa she needed to learn it from someone who she may feel more comfortable asking questions of than she would him. Arya at first thought he meant it because of how Sansa had always looked at him but Jon explained it was something much different.

" _Sometimes we can tell a stranger things we'd not tell those closest to us." Jon said and she looked at him and shook her head._

" _I couldn't tell anyone what I could you." she said and he smiled at her as he said the same to her, but explained that for Sansa it may not be the same, and with Thoros she may ask him something she'd worry about asking either of them._

" _She won't want us to think any lesser of her, Arya." he said and she nodded though she didn't really understand._

It took them a week to find a ship heading North and she knew it would take another week at least to sail to White Harbor. She felt excited though, she was going back to the North for the first time in a year and though it wasn't Winterfell it still felt as if she was going home. The thoughts of going to Skagos with Jon were ones she had mixed feelings about. It was dangerous, he'd said it would be and yet it was an adventure too. Arya had always wished to go on adventures and each time she'd dream of them it was always her and Jon that traveled together. Standing on the ship with him as they looked out on the water she felt the smile appear on her face as she thought of something Ser Arthur had said to them both after sparring.

"Just like Dunk and Egg the two of you." Ser Arthur had said and though she didn't know who they were she cared not, not as long as it was her and her brother.

**Storm's End 299 AC.**

**Ser Richard Lonmouth.**

He had arrived to find the keep had fallen and Stannis Baratheon now claiming to be king. Given that he now had the Stormlords added to his own meager forces and controlled a large navy that included the Royal Fleet, the Lord of the Narrow Sea's ships, and Sellsails, it was a claim that was far truer than it had been when Stannis had first made it. It took him some time to find someone that he could speak to, as he soon found out that most of the Lords of the Narrow Sea waited on Dragonstone to join up with the fleet rather than risk anchoring at Shipbreaker Bay.

He'd not have found the man either if it was not for the hat he wore. Aurane Waters standing out amongst all the other men as clear as day simply because of that hat. Finding a moment to speak to the man alone turned out to be even a larger problem though, as he seemed to enjoy the company of those he drank with far too much. Though truth be told, Ser Richard wasn't sure that the man wasn't simply performing a mummery.

Finally, he got his chance as Aurane left the group to take a piss, Richard following after him and hoping to catch him with his sword made out of flesh rather than the one of steel in his hand. Good fortune smiled on him as he did just that, Aurane just turning to put his manhood back into his britches when Richard came upon him.

"Who the fuck are you?" Aurane asked annoyedly.

"A friend, Lord Waters, a friend of your brother's and of your house." he said as Aurane looked at him warily.

"And yet I know you not?" Aurane asked.

"You don't, but I assure you that Lord Monford does, may we speak? Preferably away from where we may be overheard."

They set sail later that day, Aurane's ship slipping away unnoticed as they made for Dragonstone. It had been years since he'd visited the island, not since he and Myles had squired for Rhaegar if his recollection was right. When he saw it in the distance he felt a sense of something that had been growing in him ever since he saw Arthur and Rhaegar's son, hope. He was hopeful of the days to come for the first time in over five and ten years. Not since the day before the Trident had he felt how he did now and though there was some fear too, it was that hope he clung to.

Some of that hope diminished when they landed on Dragonstone to find Lord Monford and the other Lords of the Narrow Sea were not with their ships and so it was another day and a half before he'd get the chance to speak to him. After landing on Dragonstone they had needed to make it seem as if they were carrying orders so they'd not raise too much suspicion. Richard's idea of just turning sail and heading to Driftmark thankfully overruled by Aurane. So he'd taken the time to look at the island and its defenses. If his king wished he could take it easily and he knew that at some point he'd wish it. The smile on his face as they sailed from it and towards Driftmark was one that Aurane commented upon so true was it.

"What are you so pleased about Ser Richard?" Aurane asked as they stood on deck.

"I'm picturing far different banners flying from the keep." he said to a chuckle from the other man.

"Far different indeed." Aurane said.

When they arrived on Driftmark was when he knew that the gods truly favored his king. Not only was Monford there but so were most of the other Lords of the Narrow Sea. Celtigar, Bar Emmon, Sunglass, all were present and Richard noticed how both Lord Guncer Sunglass and Lord Adrian Celtigar looked at him. Though it was Monford's expression that showed he'd been recognized most clearly and almost as soon as he saw him, Monford quickly bid him join him in his solar.

"Richard Lonmouth as I live and breathe." Monford said gripping him firmly by his shoulders as he stared at his face.

"It's good to see you old friend." he said to a nod from the other man.

"Sit, drink, Aurane the good wine." Monford said and Richard watched as Aurane opened a drawer and took out a dusty bottle.

It was a fine wine too, Arbor Gold of a type he'd not tasted in many a year. Richard sipping it and savoring it rather than swallowing it down as he would once have done. He wasn't truly a man for drinking anymore and had found that it left him melancholy and when he did then his mind would dredge up memories that were best forgotten. Now though he drank in good cheer and hoped his words and the king's letter brought his old friend and the other Lords of the Narrow Sea to his side.

"Now what brings a dead man to my hall?" Monford asked curiously.

"I've come with a letter from the king." he said reaching in to take the letter from his coat, Monford looking at him oddly.

"I never would have believed I'd see the day that you swore to a Baratheon, Richard." Monford said.

"I did not, would not and have not, I speak of the true king. King Rhaegar Targaryen the first of his name." he said and Monford went to speak words that he had no need to so Richard stopped him before he did "The son of Prince Rhaegar and Princess Lyanna Targaryen." he said to gasps from both men.

"Richard?" Monford asked, his words almost forced as he drained the wine in front of him and tried to ask more.

"I've seen him Monford, spoke to him as close as I am now to you. He and Ser Arthur Dayne led a force of men and cut down the Mountain and Amory Lorch and served them a king's justice for what they did to Princess Elia, Prince Aegon, and Princess Rhaenys. They rescued Arya Stark and by now have probably rescued Sansa Stark too." he said as Monford looked at him.

"You speak true?" Monford asked.

"Read." he said handing Monford the letter.

He knew some of what was in it, his king had told him that he'd explain the truth of himself or as much as he could in as brief a manner as he could. Some of it was for Monford and the Lords of the Narrow Sea and he knew at least one part of it was in reference to the Black Dragon and to his aunt. Judging by the look on Monford's face he'd just gotten to that part and Richard knew that would be a hard sell. When he'd finished reading the letter Monford took another swallow of his wine and filled the glass once more as he looked at him.

"The things he says here, they cannot be true, dragons, Richard?" Monford asked.

"You've no doubt heard the tales from Essos about his aunt, Monford. Fantastical though they are, I believe them but even were it not for that, my own loyalty has never wavered. The king asks you to wait for his call, what say you?" he asked nervously.

"I have no love of the stag and yet should he win then it'll be me and mine that face his fury. Still for him to win he's got to beat the Old Lion and that was a difficult enough proposition as it was. So I answered the call but did so with no true feeling. You come to me and tell me that a son of Rhaegar's lives and you carry a letter where he bids me wait." Monford said his fingers drumming on the table.

Richard looked at Aurane who was staring at his brother, an eager look on the younger man's face as Monford rose to his feet.

"Our king has called us to arms and this call I answer willingly and gladly, The Old, the True, the Brave will stand with House Targaryen as it always has and I will see a true king crowned before I die." Monford said as Richard nodded happily.

The other lords soon followed and it was decided that they would wait until Stannis launched his attack on King's Landing before quietly slipping away. Fate, the gods, his king, whoever it was once again decided to intervene as almost a week after the Lords of the Narrow Sea declared for House Targaryen once more, a raven arrived from White Harbor.

"From the king." Monford said handing him the scroll, Richard looking at it and then at Monford and Aurane.

"How many ships have we in total?" he asked.

"All in all, 62." Aurane answered

"What is your reply, Monford?" he asked eagerly.

"My king orders us to set sail, so set sail we will. It's time that House Targaryen was whole once more." Monford said with a broad smile on his face.

The fleet set sail two days later, 62 ships sailing east and then south along the Esssos coastline. It would take them more than a moon and closer to two to get there and the same to return and he hoped that the Westeros he returned to was ready for them. He looked forward to seeing Rhaegar's sister for the first time and to finding out if the tales of her dragons were true, though he looked forward to bringing House Targaryen together even more.

**White Harbor 299 AC.**

**Wyman Manderly.**

Hearing that there were Direwolves in his streets had made him worry at first. Lord Brandon and Lord Rickon's wolves were with them as far as he knew and the last he'd heard from King Robb his own wolf was by his side. Never had he even contemplated that the wolves would belong to who they did and yet when he saw the large white one and the grey one walking side by side with the two Starks, he felt that he should have known.

Seeing Jon Snow walk into his hall along with Lady Arya and Lady Sansa, Wyman felt as if he was living a dream. He almost wished for someone to slap his face just to prove that he was not as he looked at the sight in front of him. The questions raced through his head, How? What did this mean? Did the King know? Did their mother know? And he knew he needed to get some answers and soon lest he lose his mind.

"Jon Snow, I find myself pleased to see you once more lad, and yet I'm so stunned by your company that I beg you to forgive my bluntness." he said.

"Bluntness is no crime, Lord Wyman." Jon Snow said his voice showing an authority he'd not known the boy possessed.

"How is that you have the Lady Arya and Lady Sansa in your company, Jon Snow?" he asked.

"He rescued us." Arya Stark said firmly, standing forward and moving in front of her brother protectively.

"Then White Harbor and the North is in his debt Lady Arya." he said and though he didn't hear the mumble that the girl made, her bastard brother certainly did and it was his hand on her shoulder that finally relaxed the girl. "Lady Sansa, Lady Arya, I'm sure you would both welcome a warm bath and a change of clothing, my granddaughters will see you to your rooms. Jon Snow, perhaps you would join me in my solar?" he asked to a nod from the boy and once again it was his words rather than Wyman's own that calmed the younger girl down and had her following after Wynafred and Wylla.

He told Marlon to see to the men with Jon Snow and the Stark girls, a strange bunch indeed he thought as he walked from the room. Warriors one and all, a man with a bow, one that carried a hammer, and many swordsmen too. There was even a red priest amongst the men and yet it was the Dornishman that had caught his eye. The man had stood at Jon Snow's shoulder more protectively than even his own guards would do by his own. He carried a greatsword strapped to his back and the hilt was one that showed it to be a fine blade, though compared to the one that Jon Snow carried it looked poorer still. The ruby that served as its pommel was worth a king's ransom he'd suspect and for it to be the hands of a bastard boy raised some questions.

Not that he held Jon Snow's birth against him, the lad was good and true from all he'd heard and he'd even asked for him to foster at White Harbor many years earlier, only to be turned down by Lord Stark. He'd not considered it a slight as the lord had fostered none of his children and Wyman could understand the reasons why. His lord had lost more than most in the war and the desire to keep what remained of his family close was one he could understand.

"I'd ask your man to stand outside Jon." he said dropping the Snow part of his name now they were away from interested ears.

"I'm afraid he'd not accept my lord, I ask you to grant me this favor and I promise that I'll answer any question you may ask should you do so." Jon said and he nodded.

Entering the solar he took a seat and sent for some refreshments before he bid Jon and his guard sit, only one of them doing so. He looked at the boy and even the way he sat in the chair seemed different to him now. No more did he slouch and hide, as instead he sat straight and kept his eyes firmly focussed on his own. When the food and drink arrived, Jon ate a little but just to be polite and the guard ate none. Wyman once again wondering where he'd found such a Leal man and even more so if the man was seeking a lord to serve.

"Your sisters Jon, last we heard they were being held by the Lannisters?" he asked.

"Aye, they were. Sansa was still in King's Landing but Arya had escaped the city only to be captured sometime later by the Mountain and his men." Jon said and Wyman gasped at the thoughts of Ned Stark's girl in that company.

"And she escaped again?" he asked curiously.

"My men and I ambushed the Mountain and his men and rescued her." Jon said almost without feeling and certainly without bragging.

"You attacked the Mountain?" he asked.

"He had my sister, my lord, so aye." Jon said his emotions showing for the first time.

"You're lucky to be alive." he said to an almost snort from the boy.

"Jon?"

"The Mountain the Rides no longer does so, he found a truer blade than his own." Jon said turning to nod at the guard behind him and Wyman looked at the man with a keener eye now.

He had dark hair and his eyes seemed almost violet in this light but Wyman knew that couldn't be so and dismissed the fleeting thought that came to mind before he looked back to Jon Snow.

"And Lady Sansa?" he asked.

"We snuck into King's Landing and during a riot we carried my sister off." Jon said, again as simply as that and Wyman felt his admiration for the boy rise somewhat.

"It's a great and true thing you've done Jon, you should be proud of yourself and I'm sure his grace will seek to reward you." he said and this time there was a snort from the lad.

"Rescuing your family is not a noble act, my lord, it's a duty. As for my brother, he is your king and not mine own and I'll accept no gifts from him or from any other man."

He looked at the boy carefully, there was no malice in his words and no treason in his eyes, and yet there was something going on here that he was not telling him. Something that Wyman felt the need to know and so he decided to ask him outright.

"You and your brother are not on good terms?" he asked.

"My brother is a fool, Lord Wyman, his actions almost cost the North its freedom and he forgot why he marched South in the first place. I love him, truly, but the crown he wears is only a temporary one." Jon said.

"You speak treason lad." he said angrily as he looked at the boy, his words provoking no reaction in Jon Snow but the guard behind him glared at him.

"I swore no oath to my brother, my lord, nor will I. Soon enough the realm will know the truth and so I'll speak it to you here and now. Lord Stark was not my father, My father was Rhaegar Targaryen, and my mother his wife Lyanna Targaryen, the man who now guards my back is Ser Arthur Dayne, The Sword of the Morning. The crown my brother wears is rightfully mine and the war to see it returned to me has not yet begun. It is a war I do not wish to wage against the North and against my blood but it is a war that has been held off for long enough." Jon Snow said, or not Jon Snow, Jon Targaryen it would seem.

"This cannot be true." he said as it was the only thought that he could manage to express fully.

"And yet it is, Ser Arthur your sword." Jon said and Wyman watched as Dawn was unsheathed, its milky white blade as beautiful as he had ever imagined it to be.

Jon Snow unsheathed his own sword a moment later and it too was beautiful, the ruby on its pommel now marking it for what he knew it to be. The boy had Blackfyre, his House's sword if his words spoke true and he had no doubt they did. He had even less doubt when he was handed letters that confirmed it and when he reluctantly handed them back. Rhaegar Targaryen they named him and he knew not how that made him feel or what he was to do with such information.

"I ask for no oath from you, my lord. I know you named my brother your king and my brother accepted his crown with no knowledge of my truth. Lady Catelyn feared that one day I would usurp my brother and no doubt there will be some who see this as that. When the truth is it is I who've been usurped. Robb is good and true and I feel he'll support my claim and as I say I've no wish to fight against my kin. So until my brother and I can meet and his decision is known to me, we are where we are." Rhaegar, Jon, gods what the hell was he to call the boy.

"What are your plans?" he asked not willing to say his name as he wasn't sure what to name him.

"I shall set sail in two days with my men and my sisters and then upon my return I'll show the realm why they should kneel, all the realm my lord, the North too." Jon said as he rose.

"I'll not just let you hold your sisters hostage." he said rising to his feet.

"I rescued my sisters from those who held them hostage, Lord Wyman, while my brother played king and let them suffer, I rescued them. Don't ever suggest that I'd use them as such or that I care for them as anything other than my sisters. My sisters come with me because I trust none of you to keep them safe, not you my lord, and not your king." Jon said walking to the door with Ser Arthur behind him both of them leaving before he could reply.

He found himself sitting quietly after the boy had left, thinking on all he'd said. It had never sat right with him that Ned Stark had forsaken his wedding vows and he supposed that if he'd ever truly given it thought then he'd have named the boy as Brandon's. Wyman though like the realm had accepted Ned's word and he could see why the boy was named as he had been. It made him ponder some things though, such as the boy going to the Wall. Wyman now wondering if it had been his choice or something that had been forced onto him. Whatever the truth of it, Jon Snow created a problem now and it was one he wasn't sure how to handle.

Over the next two days he found himself no closer to the answer and had the raven not come from Greywater Watch then he may have asked his guards to detain the boy and his men. Wyman hadn't looked forward to that, Direwolves, and Ser Arthur Dayne, he wasn't even certain his men would manage it if he gave them the order. Reading Howland's words changed his mind, he wasn't sure if he'd name the boy his king yet and so he'd wait to see what Robb Stark would do first but he'd not try and hold him here against his will.

He even agreed to let the boy send a raven to Driftmark when he asked and also that in his own to Riverrun he'd only say that he'd seen both Arya and Sansa and allowed them to leave when they'd asked him to. That had been his one caveat and it was one that Jon Snow had accepted with no question. Wyman was allowed to speak privately to both girls and ask them what it was they wished to do. Arya demanded that she be let leave with her brother her attitude was unsurprising to him as the girl was a wild wolf and she followed after Jon as if he was her whole world. Sansa saying that she too wished to leave did take him aback a little though. The girl had spent her time mainly with his granddaughters and he had thought she'd wish to stay in the comfort of the New Castle.

"I wish you good fortune on your journey, Jon Snow, I hope to see all three of you soon." he said as they said their goodbyes.

"On behalf of my sisters, myself, and the men with me I thank you for your hospitality my lord and I shall not forget it." Jon said and he nodded to the boy as he turned to leave.

Wyman was sure he'd see him again and the girls too, though he wondered what reception he'd be given them and what his brother would think when he found out that someone had more of a claim to a crown than he.

**Dorne 299 AC.**

**Oberyn Martell.**

Why Beric Dondarrion wished to speak to him, he had no idea, and it confused Arianne just as much but the Lord of Blackhaven was soon to marry Allyria Dayne and so Oberyn made his way to the Old Palace. He was annoyed and had been for some time, with his brother, with the world, with himself, the true focus of his annoyance though was who it was always directed it, the Lannisters. No, he was lying to himself if he dared to name it as simply annoyance he thought as he walked with Ellaria in through the gates. It was more than that, it was rage, anger, fury, it was hatred and a need for vengeance and as soon as he began to think of it he began to tense up.

Ellaria as always was his center, his calm, and he felt her rub his arm as they walked and the feelings that had once again threatened to overwhelm him retreated, for now. They would not stay that way for long he knew and so in a way he welcomed the distraction of meeting with Lord Beric. Oberyn even went so far as to smile genuinely when he saw his young squire was with him. Ned Dayne was not his uncle and perhaps would never be but Oberyn still thought fondly on Arthur and on Ashara too and so he nodded to the lad as they took their seats.

"Uncle, Lord Beric, and Lord Dayne say they come bearing a gift for House Martell." Arianne said and he could sense his nieces own annoyance in her voice. Arianne was obviously not aware of what that gift was and he now found himself intrigued.

"Lord Beric, surely my presence is not needed for such a simple thing as a gift?" he said trying to ask what the gift was without actually doing so.

"Not normally, my prince, but the man who sent this gift asked me to ensure you were there when it was delivered." Lord Beric said and Oberyn looked at the man and for the first time noticed that he looked far older than he remembered him to be.

"And who is this man?" Ellaria asked as Oberyn was too lost looking at Beric to do so himself.

"The realm knows him as Jon Snow, Lady Ellaria." Beric said.

That caught his attention, Ned Stark's bastard sending their House a gift of some sort was not what he expected. Though he had expected them to reach out to them at some point. Had he his way then he'd have reached out to them himself by now but Doran refused him leave to do so. Dorne would fall if they joined the wolves his brother had said and while Oberyn bowed to him on that, he wasn't sure that he truly believed it. The Young Wolf was winning and more importantly, he was facing Lannsiters, and his spear itched to join them.

"Why would Ned Stark's bastard send us a gift?" Arianne asked and Oberyn noticed how Ned Dayne bristled and how Beric shook his head at the boy.

"Because justice demanded it of him, princess." Beric said and with his agreement, he then nodded to two men who walked forward carrying two chests in their arms.

"Gold?" he said and was surprised by the small smirk on Ned Dayne's face when Beric answered.

"What's in those chests is more precious than gold, to you especially, Prince Oberyn." Beric said.

He rose to his feet quickly and moved eagerly to the chests at the man's words. Oberyn waved off Ellaria and Arianne's concerns as he opened the first one. There was no danger to him here, he felt that most keenly. When he saw the head inside he looked at it confusedly for a moment, the fat face and piggy dead eyes not meaning anything to him. It was only when he opened the second chest that he realized what it truly was he was looking at. The gasp he made worried both Ellaria and Arianne and yet he waved off their concerns as he reached inside.

"Oberyn?" Ellaria asked.

"Who is that, uncle?" Arianne said as he lifted the large head and spat in its face.

"The Mountain that Rides, rides no more." he said before laughing loudly.

There was a part of him that felt as if his vengeance had been stolen from him and yet it was shouted down by another louder part. A part that said Elia and Aegon had been avenged, Rhaenys had been avenged and now finally after six and ten years, their murderers breathed air no more. He turned to Beric and asked him who the other head belonged to.

"Amory Lorch, my prince. The man who killed Princess Rhaenys." Beric said to loud gasps from his paramour and niece.

"How could you know this?" he asked as he himself wasn't certain of who it was that had stabbed his niece more than half a hundred times.

"My king told me so." Beric said reaching into his shirt to take out a letter that he handed to him.

Arianne saw that rooms were made ready for Beric and Ned at his request and after they left he held the letter in his hands as he looked at the two heads, the Mountain's now back in the chest. Almost nervously he opened the letter and by the time he finished reading it he had gone through so many emotions that he wasn't sure which was the one he was feeling for true. He handed it to Arianne when he was done and after she'd finished reading it then Ellaria did also.

"You believe this to be true?" Arianne asked.

"It pains me to say it but I do and I know not how it makes me feel." he said truthfully.

"This man is the shame of Dorne, he is not our king." Arianne said and though a part of him agreed with her, the two heads in the chests and the offer in the words that were written gave him pause.

"I need to speak to Doran, do not let Beric leave, Ari" he said to a nod from his niece, Oberyn walking over to kiss Ellaria before he left "I must ride and ride fast, I will return as quickly as I can." he said.

"Hurry back to me, my love." Ellaria said and he kissed her once more.

He, Daemon, Obara, and Nymeria rode from Sunspear along with their guards. The ride to the Water Gardens taking less than half the time it normally would given how urgently he needed to speak to his brother. His arrival surprised Doran and was it on a less serious matter that he'd come then he'd have enjoyed that immensely. Given the nature of the news he brought though he had no time for such enjoyments.

"Why have you come, Oberyn?" Doran asked as they sat alone in his solar, Areo standing outside on guard for once at Oberyn's behest.

"The Mountain that Rides is dead as is Amory Lorch, both the men responsible for the deaths of our kin." he said and Doran looked at him to see if he was jesting.

"What have you done?" Doran asked angrily.

"Not I, this was not my work and it was not my sword who avenged Elia and her children. Though it was Dornishmen who did so and our niece and nephews blood who claimed the vengeance that should have been mine own." Oberyn said.

"Oberyn?"

"Ser Arthur Dayne lives, Doran, and he has found a king to serve, a king that had been hidden in the shadows and who stays there no more. A king that calls for our spears and offers us the chance to see that Tywin Lannister pays for what he did once and for all. A half brother to Aegon and Rhaenys and named for his father, King Rhaegar Targaryen, son of Prince Rhaegar and Princess Lyanna Targaryen." he said to a shocked look from his brother.

He handed him the letter and waited for him to respond to it, the words that were written on it were simple and to the point. A call to arms and an offer of justice and it was one that he hoped his brother would accept. If he did not then he felt that he and his brother would have words and a parting of the ways this day because his spear demanded blood and blood was being offered to it. Oberyn had only read those words once but as Doran read them he knew each line of them by heart.

_To The Princes of House Martell,_

_My name is Rhaegar Targaryen, the trueborn son of Prince Rhaegar and Princess Lyanna Targaryen. Brother to Prince Aegon and Princess Rhaenys Targaryen and like you, I mourn their and their mother's loss. I send you the heads of the men responsible for their deaths, the men who committed the vile acts that took them from this world. Yet these men were just swords and the man who wielded them still lives and breaths._

_Were it not for Tywin Lannister then my brother would be king, my sister would be the realm's delight reborn and I would have grown without them both. I would have known them, supported them, stood by my brother's side, and carried out his will. I'd have knelt to him and sworn my life to him. All this was stolen from me and from you and the man who did so thinks himself safe and untouchable. He will find out soon enough that he is very much not._

_I ask Dorne not to rise for me, but to join me in seeing the Lannisters brought down and to seeing the Old Lion on his knees. House Targaryen is not dead and the blood of my father, the blood of my brother and the blood of my sister flows through my veins. That blood calls out for justice and for vengeance as I know does your own. Stand with me and together we'll see that call is answered. For Elia, for Rhaenys, and for Aegon. Stand with me and Tywin Lannister will soon know the meaning of my House's words._

_Stand with me and I promise Fire and Blood._

_Their brother,_

_Rhaegar Targaryen._

He looked to his own brother and awaited his answer, the words taking a long time to come, and yet when they did he felt his heart begin to race. The smile he wore was one that was still on his face when he reached Sunspear and walked into Arianne's solar.

"Uncle?"

"Call the Banners." he said breathing deeply as he said the words he'd waited a lifetime to say.

**Astapor 299 AC.**

**Dany.**

When the Sellsails arrived it was a surprise, the word she'd sent out seeking ships was at Barristan's suggestion and the merchants had only left a little over a moon ago carrying that word. She wasn't even certain that any would come but the man that arrived in the Pyramid said he could gather her twenty ships. Added to the five and twenty she had under her control that now gave them enough to bring half the Unsullied with her should they find no more.

It wasn't all, but half would be better than she could move with just her own ships and though it would be uncomfortable it would not be unbearable. Grey Worm had begun making changes to the ships they already owned to make them fit as many men as they could and he was sure that they could get over one hundred Unsullied on each ship. She'd tasked Jorah with seeing that they'd have enough supplies to get them to Westeros but the issue they'd faced then was where in Westeros would they be going to.

Dany had no idea and once again it had been days since she'd seen her shadow, which had left her both irritated and in the dark. So with Missandei and Barristan's help, they had begun to see what could be done about the city of Astapor itself. She knew when she left there was a good chance the city would fall into the hands of Masters once more and so they'd done what they could to make it able to protect itself. They'd had a council formed to run the city in her absence, had men trained to serve the city as guards, and had found there were some Unsullied who were not fully trained who had no wish to follow her to Westeros.

She'd taken little of the wealth of the city for herself also, despite the notion that it was hers to do with as she wished. It had felt wrong to her as if she was stealing from the mouths of babes or something. Not even Barristan's words that the wealth was hoarded by the Masters and the people saw none of it changed her mind. Her words to him though at least seemed to have the impact she desired.

" _I am not a Master, Ser Barristan and I have no wish to be." she said._

" _That is why you are better than they are, my queen." Ser Barristan said a soft smile on his face as he looked at her.  
_

In the end, she'd taken what she'd needed to buy the services of the Sellsails and a little to buy supplies while on their journey. Captain Groleo had told her that they could re-supply in Volantis or Tyrosh and would then need to carry fewer supplies if they did so and Dany had bowed to the Captain's wisdom. When she was not seeing the city was prepared for her leaving or planning that leaving, she spent her time with her dragons.

They were growing and she felt that it would not be long until she was riding on Drogon's back. Her son almost seemed more eager for that time to come each day and she wondered when he'd truly let her fly with him. Despite their size, the dragons still needed their mother's attention and she gave it to them as much as she could. Tonight though they seemed to need it even more and so for the first time since they were small enough to share her bed, Dany slept with them. She lay encircled by the three of them, a part of her touching each of them, and almost as soon as she closed her eyes, he was there once again.

_He wore black tinged with red, a sword on his hip with a ruby on its pommel, and though he had his back to her she could see him more clearly than ever before. She began to move to him and then he turned to face her and she stopped in her tracks. Dany could see him, as clear as if he was actually standing that close to her and when he smiled at her she knew that he could see her too._

" _Daenerys." he said softly when she reached him, his fingers touching her face as hers did likewise to his own._

" _How?" she asked._

" _I don't know, nor care, I can see you, all of you." he said happily._

" _And I, you." she said._

_He was as young as she had thought he was, his face unlined except for the scar that only enhanced his beauty rather than took away from it. His eyes were even more vivid than she remembered and she could see her own reflection in them. She kissed him before he had the chance to kiss her and it was even stronger than before, the feelings it brought up in her ones that she'd never imagined she could feel._

_When she moved to take a breath she found him doing the same, the smile on his face one that she longed to see there always._

" _You're so beautiful." he said and his words took her breath from her once more._

" _As are you. Ser Barristan says it's the dragon in us, the Valyrian that makes us so." she said and he while not agreeing didn't disagree verbally either._

" _I think it's just you." he said making her laugh._

" _You have dragon in you too." she said and he nodded._

" _I do, my father was a dragon, just as yours was." he said and she looked at him curiously._

" _Who was your father?" she asked._

" _Come." he said reaching for her hand and she walked with him, the balcony they'd been on fading away and she looked down to see the sand beneath her feet._

_In the distance, a tower stood and he nodded to her as they both began to walk to it. Dany finding the distance not the same as the time it took them to get there for some strange reason. He led her through the tower's door and she saw two men sitting at a table, both men were wearing white cloaks and speaking words that she couldn't hear. They walked up some stairs and soon were standing outside a room. Dany looked at him only to see a sad look come over her shadow's face as he looked inside._

_When she did as he was, she saw a woman laying on a bed, her belly slightly swollen as a man with silver hair sat rubbing his fingers over it. She could see they were happy, both of them looking more content than she'd ever seen anyone ever be before. The woman was relaxed while the man looked at his fingers as they traveled over her belly and smiled beamingly at the actions._

" _His will be the great song, the one that only he can sing." the man said._

" _So you believe me now?" the woman asked challengingly._

" _I've learned it's best not to disagree with you, my love." the man said to a laugh from the woman._

" _My brave prince, scared of a mere slip of a girl like me?" the woman said her mirth clear in her tone._

" _I've seen you joust, Lyanna." the man said and Dany felt her heart stop, Lyanna, Lyanna Stark, that means that this was…._

" _Aye, but it was you who won the day, Rhaegar." Lyanna said as Rhaegar kissed her._

_Before she could say anything they were back on the balcony and she turned to look at her shadow. There were tears falling down his cheeks as he cried silently. She took him in her arms and held him, willing those tears away and feeling him sob against her before finally he calmed and looked at her._

" _I am their son." he said and she looked at him, his words were true and she needed not ask him how he knew._

" _Who are you?" she asked, seeking his name now that she knew the truth of him._

" _Rhaegar Targaryen, I am your nephew." he said and she smiled at that, her heart filling as she kissed him deeply._

_They spoke only briefly after that, both of them feeling that their time here was passing and that perhaps the next time they saw each other would be for true._

" _I'll see you soon, Dany" he said as he began to fade._

" _Where, Where will we meet, Rhaegar?" she asked._

" _Our home, Dragonstone." he said._

She woke up smiling, her day was only just beginning, and yet she was eager for it. Each day was bringing them closer together, her, her nephew, her shadow, her love.

**Skagos 299 AC.**

**Jon Snow.**

He woke up with a start, it had felt so real, he'd seen her, truly seen her for the first time and she was everything he wished she would be. His mother was more than a statue in a crypt and he finally had a face to truly go with how he'd pictured her. He'd seen his father too but he'd always had a clearer image of him for some reason. From the moment Aemon had sent him on his way he could picture what Rhaegar Targaryen looked like in his mind and yet his mother had been a shadow to him.

As had Dany he thought with a smile, he'd seen her more clearly than she'd seen him, he knew that, but he knew now that he'd not truly seen her at all. Instead, his mind had filled in the gaps of how she looked and the truth of it was more than his mind had been able to conjure. Her beauty was breathtaking and was that all he'd seen in this dream then it would have been a welcome one. For some reason, though he'd been gifted seeing his parents too and had finally been able to speak his truth to her.

"Dragonstone." he said happily as he rose from the bed.

He walked to the deck of the ship and found Arya standing with Thoros and some of the others, the dark clouds in front of them seemed to be what all their eyes were focussed on. Arya didn't even have to turn to look at him to know he was there and so as soon as he reached her she simply took his hand in her own.

"The captain is worried about the storm, your grace." Thoros said.

"The storm won't cause us any problems." he said and a few of the men turned to look at him.

"How can you know that, your grace?" one of them asked.

"I just know, but it looks worst than it will be, I'll speak to the captain." he said and Thoros nodded as Jon turned, Arya now walking with him as he moved to speak to the captain.

"How do you know?" she asked as they walked.

He didn't know how to tell her, it wasn't something that he should know but just by looking at it, he knew it would pass them by before they reached it.

"I just know." he said and Arya asked him no more.

It took some convincing but eventually, the captain listened, and just as he had said it would, the storm passed them by. When it did he realized that he knew how he had known, the dragon had told him. It was a test, not for him but for the captain of the ship, a way to let him know that what he said next would be listened to. He needed the ship to wait for them and so later when they saw the shore of Skagos and he told the man that the storm waited for him, the captain listened. It bought them a few days and he hoped it would be enough.

"Both of you stay with me, Arthur or Thoros." he said to his sisters.

"Will we be safe here, Jon?" Sansa asked looking to the rocky shore.

"I will keep you safe, both of you, always." he said and she nodded, Arya did not, his little sister was too proud to think anyone was needed to keep her safe, though he knew she too believed his words.

They set the two boats down into the sea and after struggling to get Ghost and Nymeria into one, they then began to row to the shore. Skagos looked a foreboding place and yet he felt no fear or danger here, only a sense of excitement at what he had come to find. When they reached the shore, the two wolves moved first both Ghost and Nymeria growling at the trees a little off in the distance, with only the grey wolf making any sound. Jon could feel the eyes in those trees that were watching them and yet once again he felt no true threat.

It didn't take very long for the men to come to them. The large group was clearly made up of warriors though they poorly equipped and they seemed more fearful of the wolves than of his men. Nodding to Gendry and Thoros, the two men moved closer to his sisters while Jon looked to Arthur who seemed ready to unsheathe Dawn at the first sign of trouble. Yet the men that moved towards them didn't seem to be there to cause trouble and if anything as they got closer to them they seemed to look at him in particular. It took him a moment to figure out why that was as his fingers had been stroking through Ghost's fur almost of their own accord.

"The wolf is yours?" a large man asked.

"The wolf is his own, but aye, he follows me, as doe the other one with my sister." Jon said to excited mumbles from behind the large man.

"The Magner will wish to talk, will you and yours accept guest right?" the large man asked nervously.

"We will." he said to a smile from the man.

A man stepped forward at a nod from the large man in front and then reached into a bag to take some bread and salted fish out. He offered it to each of the men with Jon and once they'd taken it he stepped back, his eyes on the wolves all the while.

"Torrhen." the large man said offering his hand after Jon and the others had eaten the bread and salted fish, the man seeming to be amazed when he and Arya got Ghost and Nymeria to take a little of each to.

"Jon Snow." he said.

"The Magner will wish to speak to you The Jon, long has he wished for such." Torrhen said confusing him.

"He has?"

"Aye, the White Wolf comes to our shore at last." Torrhen said his voice eager and excited.

Jon looked to Arthur who seemed just as confused as he and to the others. Arya was looking at him with some concern on her face but he smiled at her and it soon went away, somewhat at least. They walked with the men in past the treeline and as they did so he heard a gasp from behind him. He turned quickly to see Sansa was looking at a hairy beast with a large horn on its forehead.

"Look Jon, a unicorn." Sansa said excitedly and he and Arya laughed at her enthusiasm.

He'd been worried that she'd not enjoy this trip and had been surprised by how much she had. If she'd have wished to be left in White Harbor then he would have done so, reluctantly though that would have been. Sansa though seemed to wish to see more of the North and as they'd sailed she had entertained the men on the ship with her singing. Arya had later told him that her sister had seen the truth of the South and had finally realized that she was of the North. Now just like she had before with her pretty dresses, tales of knights and feast and balls, she wished to know much of her own lands where once she cared not.

It was a welcome change, as was the one to their own relationship. Sansa spoke to him now as she once had only to Robb or Bran and though it made Arya a little jealous that she now wished to spend time with him too, his little sister knew her own place in his heart was secure. Eventually, they left the cover of trees and were soon walking into a small village that was built in a natural gap in the mountains. Men, women, and children stared at them and especially the wolves as they were brought in through the gates.

Jon turned to Torrhen as a large group came their way, the leader of which was clearly this Magner that he's spoken of. The man put the Greatjon to shame and was as big as the Mountain and though he wore no weapons it made him no less threatening. Jon was certain that should he wish to then this man could kill most of them with his bare hands. The Magner looked him up and down and then looked to Nymeria who had gone to stand by Arya. His little sister holding her wolf and bringing a smile to the Magner's face when he saw them both together.

"You are The Jon?" The Magner asked him, his voice deep and his northern accent as broad as any of the men of the Mountain clans.

"I am." he said his voice sound far more confident than he felt at that moment.

"The White Wolf?" he said looking to Ghost who now sat almost lazily in front of Sansa.

"Ghost." he said to the man though the wolf moved too.

He hadn't called for him and didn't expect Ghost to come but when he did his wolf looked at him before licking his face. Jon reached out and stroked its fur and then heard the laughter from the men that had come to greet them as Ghost lay down and offered his belly to him, both to rub and he felt it was to send a message to these men. It was received just as Ghost had intended it and the cheers that rang around the village caught him by surprise.

"The White Wolf comes." The Magner said loudly.

As he walked into the cave that night he felt very different, the images the Magner had shown him were ones that proved his words and his welcome true. That he was doing so alone was only because of what he expected to find within the cave and had taken some convincing on his part. His sisters, his men, Arthur, and even Ghost all were not happy with him but he knew that it had to be him and him alone to do this. The Black Dragon called and he would answer and until he proved himself none were safe, once he did then only his enemies would need to fear the dragon flames.

**Skagos 299 AC.**

**The Black Dragon.**

_He was here, finally, he was here. He'd sent him the truth of the storm and his rider had heard him and each step he now took in the cave he felt. Though he longed to go to him, longed to feel him reach out and touch his hand to his head, he could not. For so long he had waited and yet these final few moments seemed to be the longest of a very long life._

_When he saw him in front of him, he wished to roar his approval. To shout out his joy to the world that his rider was here with him and he was no longer alone. The test needed to be passed though, the name needed to be spoken and so he looked at him, watched him, took him in as his rider did the same to him. He was young, fierce and through him, he smelt the world around him differently than he had before. He saw it differently as they both shared themselves with each other. His senses were now his rider's and his rider's senses were his._

_The bond was almost complete and though he made a threatening sound when his rider touched his head, it was not one that he meant to be true. It was a test, simply that and yet when the hand touched him, he found it hard to test anymore. It was like something he'd not felt in so very long, like a mother's touch and yet different and a sound came from him that he'd never heard before. It was a low, rumbling sound, a happy sound, a trill, and his eyes opened to see his rider was sharing his own happy sound as he looked at him._

"Ōñosmaghare" his rider said and he felt it then, their bond had been formed and only death would ever break them apart.

_He willed him to climb onto his back and his rider did so, and then he almost raced to the front of the cave, his rider making that happy sound that he knew that he was making too._

"Sōvegon Ōñosmaghare." His rider said and within a couple of beats of his wings, he was flying for the first time with his rider on his back.

_He felt him hold on, he was nervous and yet unafraid, and soon they were soaring in the air. He flew over the mountains of Skagos and saw the people below, going lower when he felt his rider wish it of him. How long they flew for he knew not, though it felt far too short and yet when his rider wished to land, he landed._

"Thank you, Ōñosmaghare, thank you for allowing me that" his rider said as he looked into his eyes.

_Rhaegar, that was his name, he felt it and then he knew that he'd had another name too. Jon Snow he had been called, just as he had been named The Cannibal, a false name, a weak name, a lie. Ōñosmaghare, the bringer of light. Lightbringer, that was his truth, just as Rhaegar was his rider's and as Rhaegar leaned against him he let him know it all._

"Lightbringer." Rhaegar said and he trilled joyfully, for that was who he was and who he was always supposed to be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As Jon and Lightbringer’s bond fully forms, he speaks to the Magner and the other leaders of Skagos, and a prophecy is fulfilled. In King’s Landing Tyrion has no time to dwell on the loss of Sansa Stark as Stannis closes in. Robb deals with news that gives him pause, good news, great news, and news that he isn’t sure how to take.
> 
> The Lords of the Narrow Sea arrive in Astapor and meet a Princess who was born to be a queen and Jon and Arthur make plans to announce themselves to the realm as Sansa finally learns the truth about her brother.


	7. The White Wolf and the Black Dragon.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jon and Lightbringer bond more and the Lords of the Narrow sea arrive in Astapor and meet with Dany. Robb receives good news, bad news, and news that gives him pause, while in Skagos Jon speaks with the Magnar and fulfills a prophecy and Sansa learns her brother's truth.

**Skagos 299 AC.**

**Sansa.**

Her journey back to the North had been very different than the journey from it. There was no wheelhouse, no meals with the queen and no golden prince and Sansa thanked the gods of both her mother and her father for that. She didn't fight with her sister or get embarrassed when Arya said something that only she would, nor did she listen to a Septa who would tell her that her sister was no lady. Instead, she looked at Arya and felt she had been in the right of things and so she copied her as much as she could. True she could never be as wild or as free as Arya was but she could be a wolf too, a fierce wolf just as Jon had told her she was.

As for Jon, gods was her brother always like this, she believed not, he'd changed just as she had and at first she put it down to the war. She'd heard that wars changed people and though at the time she didn't understand it, she knew it to be true and so she'd thought that it had changed her quiet and at times sullen brother. Jon was no longer quiet and he was anything but sullen, he smiled, he laughed, when he was with Arya they japed and played and she had wondered if they always did so and she'd not known, or if it was something new. With her it certainly was and how he spoke to her, how he asked her if she was well or if she needed anything, filled her heart with a joy she'd never expected would have come from him.

She knew she'd loved her brother, yet there was a distance too, and be it because of how her mother felt and that Sansa wished to please her, or what the Septa had taught her about bastards, Sansa knew it was her that was the reason for that distance. It was gone almost completely now, he saw her only as he had ever seen her, a sister, and though she felt shame that at times she'd perhaps not saw him just as truly, she did now. He'd come for her when no one else had, it had been Jon who'd risked himself so and taken her from that terrible place and she loved him for it, completely, truly, and with all of her heart.

" _Why didn't Robb come for me?" she asked him as they sailed, Arya had fallen asleep and Jon was sitting on the deck of the ship and Sansa had joined him and his guard._

" _It's easier for a small group of men to do so than an army, Sansa and Robb leads an army." Jon said._

" _Did he send you?"_

" _No, I came by my own will, for you and for Arya." Jon said with a soft smile on his face._

" _Why?" she said and he looked at her strangely and she realized her question may have offended him "Why me, Jon? Arya, I understand but me….I…."_

" _You're my sister, Sansa, just as truly as Arya is." Jon said and she felt her chest tighten as hearing him name her as such was not something she'd expected._

" _I'm sorry, for…" she began only for him to interrupt her._

_He didn't speak, instead just took her in his arms and held her and she felt it once again, she was safe, she was with her family and she was safe._

When they'd reached White Harbor she'd felt it, even more, they were in the North and as Jon had said, these were their people. She'd been surprised at how Jon spoke to Lord Wyman, his confidence once again shining through and she found that she much preferred seeing her brother this way and she knew that Arya certainly did. Though her sister was a bit more worried than she was when Lord Wyman asked to speak to Jon alone which had confused her at first, they were safer here, weren't they?.

Lady Wynafred and Lady Wylla turned out to be far different than the ladies in King's Landing too and she enjoyed spending time with them. As she did the northern food and the feast that Lord Wyman held on their behalf. She and Arya even got to dance with Jon which surprised her and delighted her sister, even though Arya pretended it did not. Jon proving that he was an excellent dancer and making her laugh as they moved around the floor.

" _Look at her, she pretends she doesn't wish to dance, and were anyone to ask her she'd tell them, no, but I know my sister, she may not wish to be a lady, Sansa, but Arya does wish to do some ladylike things." Jon said with a smile on his face as he directed her to where Arya was sitting._

" _But dancing, Jon?" she asked her voice uncertain._

" _Watch when I dance with her, tell me after if she didn't enjoy it." Jon said and she nodded, and on this, he was proven right._

A part of her had hoped to stay in White Harbor, to wait there for Robb, for her mother, or even to head to Winterfell and see Bran and Rickon again. Yet it was not to be as Jon had told both her and Arya that he had further to go and despite the comfort and protection that White Harbor offered, she felt safer with Jon than she did with anyone else. So when Lord Wyman had asked to speak to her and asked her if she wished to stay, Sansa had told him the truth.

_"I wish to leave with my brother, my lord. Ever since father….ever since….I've not felt safe, not slept as truly and when I have I've dreamed the worst possible dreams. I still dream bad dreams on occasion, my lord, but no longer is it each night and I no longer find myself looking over my shoulder or having a need to think over each and every word I say. Skagos frightens me, I'll not lie, but I'm far more frightened of waking up and not seeing my family." she said._

" _And this is what you truly wish, Lady Sansa?" Lord Wyman asked._

" _It is, my lord." she said determinedly._

" _Then I shall not stand in your way and I wish you good fortune until we meet again." Lord Wyman said, a large smile on his face which she returned._

" _And I, you, my lord." she said._

They set sail the next day and she found she was eager and excited rather than scared and frightened, she was to see more of the North, the True North and she welcomed it as she had the stories and tales that Jon would speak of it as they traveled. She was a lady, she'd always be one, more so than Arya because that's just not who her sister was but she was not any longer and she never would be a southern lady. Sansa was of the North, she knew that now and so she wished to be a northern lady, just as her aunt had been according to Jon.

It was why she now carried a knife hidden in her skirts and had taken lessons from Thoros of Myr in how to defend herself. Had she done so before, then Joffrey would have felt her bite and Lady would still be with her. There was nothing she could do about that now though and so she promised herself instead that no one would ever make her feel weak and powerless again. She wasn't a little bird as the Hound had called her, she was a wolf, and wolves bite, they howl and when they're with their pack, they are formidable.

Skagos was nothing like she'd imagined, it was a land of cannibals and wild beasts according to what Septa Mordane had said and yet to her, it was simply the North. A wild, untamed, and surprisingly beautiful place once you turned your eyes to it instead of looking south. She'd not been afraid when the men came because Jon was not, Arya was not, and she was or would be as much of a wolf as them. When she'd seen the unicorn it had been incredible and it made her understand something she'd forgotten, so lost had she been in her dreams of the south that she'd not realized that the north had wonders too.

" _Look Jon, a Unicorn."_

She'd been filled with excitement and it had only grown once they reached the village they were taken to and met the Magnar. He was a man who dwarfed even the Hound and she wished they'd brought men like this south when they'd left, had they then the Lannisters would have suffered and not they. It had surprised her how they'd welcomed Jon, though she understood it had something to do with the Direwolves and Ghost in particular. As for her and Arya, they were welcomed just as warmly as they had been in White Harbor, though quite differently also.

They'd feasted, though it was not a southern or even northern feast as instead, they had eaten outdoors and under the stars, which she very much enjoyed. There had been music and singing but no songs of the south, these songs were even more northern in nature than some of those that had been sung in the Merman's Court. When Jon suggested she sing, she'd done so happily and had sung only the few northern songs she knew, finding herself almost embarrassed by the way she was looked at and cheered her on. All had gone well until Jon had told them he needed to go somewhere on his own and Arya had argued with him, while Sansa had felt that little bit of fear rise up once more.

"You're leaving me?" Arya, said angrily.

"Never little sister, I must do this, but I will be gone no more than a few hours, I swear it on the old gods and the new. You'll both be safe here, I'd not leave for even a moment if I thought either of you was in even the slightest bit of danger." Jon said.

"Your promise? You promise me you'll be back in a few hours?" Arya said her voice shaky.

"I promise, little sister." he said to hugging Arya tightly before he came over to her "Sansa, Arthur will guard you with his life, he took down the Mountain, he, Thoros, and the others, all of them will protect you as if it were me. As for the Magnar and his people, they are Northmen through and through and I trust them completely. I'll return as quickly as I am able to."

She hugged him, told him that she was unafraid which was only partly true, and then she, Arya, and the others watched as Jon headed off towards the mountains. That Ghost picked that time to come to her and allow her to hold him and that she saw Arya do the same to Nymeria only made her feel even more sure that he would keep to his word. He'd come for them both once already, he'd come back to them both and so she felt herself relax somewhat.

Now she was anything but, they'd all seen it, the Black Dragon flying over their heads and only that Arya had said that Jon was on its back, Sansa would have feared for him even more than she now did. As she looked up to the air and saw how high they now flew, she feared for him though, and that more than anything was why it took her so long to ask herself the question. It was why she never considered it odd that Jon was on a dragon's back until the dragon landed a short distance away from the village. Then only when she saw Jon walk back into the village did she think of it, and when she saw Arya run to her brother it was that question that stopped her from doing likewise.

"How can Jon ride a dragon?" she asked softly as he and Arya walked towards her.

**The Westerlands 299 AC.**

**Robb Stark.**

They had marched from the Crag and were heading south along the coast when the riders caught up with them. Robb was almost glad for the reason the stop, as though he had a plan, he wasn't sure if it was the right one. He'd been angry, incredibly so and perhaps it was not for the best to make battle plans with a not-so-cool head. So stopping the march and having the tents set up was a welcome respite though it was the words he read in the letter that more than anything had made him eager to speak to his lords rather than battle planning.

He'd done it, Jon had rescued their sister and had gone to rescue Sansa now too and the relief and joy he felt was palpable, especially after the news he'd gotten from Winterfell. There was some shame too though, as now more than ever he knew that Jon had been right and that this and not what he was doing was what a true brother would seek to do. Still, he put that away for now and waited for his lords to join him, smiling at his uncle when he entered the tent and then as The Great and Smalljon's and Lord Karstark and some of the Riverlords finally arrived.

"I've received a raven from my mother at Riverrun, my lords. One that bears very good news. My brother Jon Snow has rescued our sister Arya and has set off to see that our other sister is returned to us also." he said, feeling so much pride for what Jon had managed to do, despite how he felt about not being a part of it.

"How?"

"Where?"

"Your grace, how was that accomplished?" The Smalljon asked and Robb felt even more pride for Jon and for Arya as he readied to speak.

"Arya escaped from King's Landing, my lords, though she was then taken prisoner by The Mountain and his men." he said and saw the way each of the lords looked at him and then each other, the worry and concern on their faces one that he would have shared had he heard this news before now "Jon, along with some men sworn to him attacked the Mountain and his men and rescued her, she is unharmed my lords."

He could see how much this pleased them and how whatever they may have thought of Jon beforehand they did not now. Robb though knew what he said next would make his brother some truer friends here and as he looked to his uncle and the lords, he readied to tell them just exactly what Jon had accomplished.

"The Mountain is dead my lords, he and his men were put the sword by my brother and his own." he said to shocked gasps.

"For true, the Mountain that rides has fallen?" his uncle asked and Robb nodded.

"And it was your brother and his men that saw it done?" The Greatjon asked.

"It was my lord, I say that we raise our mugs this night and do so in Jon's honor, what say you all?"

"Aye."

"Aye, I'll drink to that."

He waited until they had all gone and bid his uncle stay, Brynden looking at him as he took his seat and whether he could see the relief on his face or not, he could certainly see the smile he wore. After bidding him sit, he told him that his mother had reported that Stannis now controlled the Stormlands and that she wished to speak to him about something very important. Yet it was the rescue and the fact that Jon had gone on to King's Landing with Arya rather than to Riverrun or to him, that Brynden wished to speak on.

"Your Grace, I know not your brother other than what your mother has told me of him, I know you feel him true but I am most worried that he's taken your sister to King's Landing. Are you sure of his loyalty, nephew?" The Blackfish asked and were they with others and not alone then there would have been words spoken between them, angry words, as it was though Robb's mood was too good to be angered so.

"My brother is true, uncle. Were my mother here with you now she'd tell you of Jon and Arya, they were, they are. two peas from the same pod as my father was wont to say." Robb said with a chuckle as he thought of some of the things Jon and Arya would do together "A few years ago when we were in Winterfell, Jon hid in the crypts covered in flour so as to play a prank on Sansa. Arya and I brought our sister down to see the statues and he came out from the shadows acting as a ghost."

He laughed as he looked to see the smile on his uncle's face, Robb closing his eyes and remembering it as if it had happened the day before and not years earlier.

"He did that for Arya, to amuse her, to make her smile after a day in which she had not. He sparred with her when I would not, uncle, listened when I would not. No matter how busy Jon was he'd take time out of his day for Arya, for the little sister he loved so. So Aye, uncle, my brother is loyal, even were he not to me, I've no doubt of it when it concerns our sister." Robb said.

"And Sansa?" Brynden asked and for a moment he wondered if he was asking if Jon thought less of her, he knew compared to Arya in some ways that was true, yet looking at his uncle's face he realized that was not what he was asking.

"He rescued Arya from the Mountain, uncle, and saw the man dead, do you think the Lannisters will be able to stop him getting Sansa from them?" he asked.

"No, perhaps not, this is good news, Robb, you're right, let's drink to the lad and welcome it as that." his uncle said rising to his feet.

"Stannis, mother?" he asked.

"Tomorrow, tonight we drink."

Drink they did and in the end, it was a good thing as it delayed their march and so they were not as far into the West as they may have been when the ravens kept coming and the news got even better. Winterfell was back in their hands and his brothers lived. It had been a mummery, a falsehood, a lie, his brothers lived and the North had seen to the end of the squids that dared to sully it with their presence. No sooner had that one came than the one came showing that just as he had known he would, Jon had rescued their other sister too and Robb spent the day riding on his horse with a smile that not even the rain that fell could wipe from it.

He'd snuck into the lion's den and showed them all what a wolf could do, more than that, his sisters weren't just safe, they were back in the North. So happy was he by this news that he ignored Wyman's cryptic message that words needed to be spoken and barely paid attention to the fact that his sisters hadn't stayed in White Harbor. Robb found he cared not, they were with Jon and they were safe, and what else mattered other than that.

The good news was not to last though and when he heard what Edmure had done he was wroth. It changed his plans entirely and so it was with anger in his heart that he turned and began marching back to the Riverlands rather than with the joy he had hoped it would be. It was at the Golden Tooth that he found the raven waiting for him, this one from his mother and once again telling him of the need to speak to him in person and so they marched onward leaving the West behind them

When he finally reached Riverrun after almost five moons since he last had seen it he felt as if he'd lost the war rather than won some battles. He felt a failure rather than the conquering hero he was welcomed back as. Though he was happy to see his mother's smiling face and while not as pleased to see his uncle, he greeted him warmly too.

"Riverrun is yours, your grace." Edmure said and Robb noticed how his mother looked to his uncle oddly when he did so.

"I thank you, uncle. Mother, it's good to see you again." he said as she embraced him, and as she both she and Edmure then welcomed back the Blackfish and the rest of the lords.

"We must speak, Robb, about Jon." his mother said as they walked into the keep, Robb surprised to hear her name his brother so.

"Is he hurt, has anything happened?" he asked worriedly.

"No, he's not hurt, Robb, it's something else." his mother said cryptically and as he looked at her, he found himself wondering why her face was as pensive as it was.

**Astapor 299 AC.**

**Dany.**

She had done it, she had actually flown on the back of a dragon and it was like nothing she could ever have imagined. Rhaegal and Viserion had flown beside her and yet it was Drogon that had enjoyed it as much as she had. Dany able to feel his joy as they soared through the air and his reluctance to land, which brought a smile to her face when they did so. After thanking him profusely and promising it was but the first time they'd share the skies with each other, she walked over to her other children and spoke to them too before then heading to where Barristan, Jorah, Grey Worm, and Missandei waited for her.

She knew that her knights had been worried for her, Grey Worm too though he had remained stoic as always, and as for Missandei, the little girl seemed the most relieved of any that she'd returned to the ground safely. Moving to them she made it clear that she had been in no danger and that she had taken to it as easily as she had riding on a horse, though it was a poor comparison to make if she was being honest. She loved her silver, but riding was not flying and she knew she'd be doing far more of one than the other in the future.

"All is well, my queen?" Barristan asked and it warmed her heart that he showed his concern, as it did with the others.

"All is well, Ser Barristan." she said her smile beaming as they turned to walk back to the pyramid.

Missandei spoke to her and asked what it had felt like and would she be doing it more in the future, while both Barristan and Jorah listened while trying not to seem as if they were doing so. Dany could see that both men were nervous about her answers but for different reasons, Jorah was more worried about her, while Barristan while worried also, was thinking as a Kingsguard too no doubt. Riding on a horse allowed him to do his duty and keep her protected, riding on a dragon would very much not. Not that she would need protection on Drogon's back though as up in the air there was no one who could ever threaten her.

It was to thoughts of her next flight and of the night to come that she found herself lost in when she reached the pyramid. That it was still early in the day was her only true regret as the one person she more than any wished to share this with would not come to her until night fell at the earliest. She found herself hoping that he did come tonight, that they would speak and she could tell him how it felt to fly on the back of a dragon and to ask had he reached his own as of yet. Rhaegar would know what it felt like, of all those in the world he would know and this was something she truly wished to share with him.

The day seemed to crawl and was almost never-ending and there were various times during it when she almost wished to just say she was tired and head to her bed early. She knew of course she could not, she had much to do and her time here was drawing ever closer to its end. The ships were on their way, she'd soon meet men who were loyal to her house and finally, she'd be going home. It was something which excited her more than worried her now, knowing that once she got there she'd no longer be alone, she'd have family, someone who understood, someone who she longed to see in the flesh.

"I'll bid you all a goodnight." she said after they'd finished their meal and she'd laid out plans for the next day, plans that included another dragon ride much to Barristan and Jorah's concern.

"Good night, my queen." Missandei said and she hugged the younger girl and then watched as each of them left her alone.

She made her way to the balcony and looked out over the sea and the sky. Her children were hunting she knew and out there somewhere ships were heading towards her, Dany closed her eyes and felt the breeze on her face before turning and heading to her bed-chamber. As she lay down to sleep she found she didn't have to wait too long for him to come to her. No sooner had her eyes closed than he was there and she almost ran and jumped into his arms such was her joy at seeing him.

" _Happy to see me?" he asked with a smile and she nodded eagerly._

" _I've flown, Rhaegar, I've flown on Drogon's back." she said proudly._

" _As have I on Lightbringer's." he said catching her by surprise._

" _You have?" she asked looking into his dark eyes._

" _I have, who knows perhaps we did so at the same time?" he said, and for some reason that pleased her greatly._

_The idea that despite being so far away from each other they had done something that no one had in more than a hundred years as the other was doing the very same thing one which she clung to happily.  
_

" _It was unlike anything I could have ever imagined, Rhaegar, was it the same for you?" she asked as he took her hand and they walked over to the pillar nearest them, Rhaegar sitting down with it against his back and Dany sitting in front of him, happy when she felt his arms go around her._

" _Aye, it's almost impossible to describe, everything seems so small, so insignificant from so high above it all. The world is beautiful from up there and feeling yourself connected to something as powerful and unique as a dragon is a gift, a gift from the gods." he said and she nodded thinking he did a decent enough job of describing it._

" _It is, it truly is." she said and she shivered when he rested his head on her shoulder, his words spoken softly before he began to softly bite on her ear._

" _Though I prefer this to that." he said his voice almost husky and she found she agreed with him once more, Dany quickly turning her head to feel his lips on hers._

_They kissed for some time, both of them lost in how it felt and neither wishing to be the one to end it. Which of them did she couldn't tell but she could see in Rhaegar's eyes that he felt the loss just as much as she did. Oddly she found herself drifting off to sleep as she leaned back even closer against him, his arms holding her tight, and soon he was whispering words that she barely heard. Rhaegar telling her that they'd see each other soon and they'd be together from then on, that he'd never leave her alone, and that he'd also take her to see more of their family._

When she woke it was with the strangest feeling, as if he'd actually been in the bed beside her and held her while she slept. It made her annoyance about sleeping when she was with him fade away, and when she rose she felt far more refreshed than she had in a long time. Even later that day, and the next when she flew on Drogon's back and got more used to just what could be done while flying, it was to the same thought over and over. Would his arms feel that good when he held her for true? Would she sleep that peacefully when he was with her? Would she see him as soon as she hoped?.

The last of those seemed to be something that was about to receive an answer. Dany seeing the ships below her as she flew high above them and quickly turning to head back to the city once she did so. The silver seahorse on the sails had told her all she needed to know and as she landed she told Drogon to ready his brothers and that she'd call them all when she needed them.

"My queen?" Barristan asked seeing her excited state and wondering why she had shortened her flight.

"The ships Ser Barristan, House Velaryon, and the Lords of the Narrow Sea, I saw them, they'll be here by day's end." she said almost breathlessly.

"How many your grace?" Jorah asked.

"Many." she replied happily.

As it turned out it was very late in the night when the ships finally arrived, Dany sending Grey Worm, and a group of the Unsullied to escort the lords to the great pyramid. She had wished to meet them on the docks but Barristan had told her that she was a queen, and it was for them to come to her and not the other way round. So she had sat and waited and now finally they were here, Dany hearing the gasp from Barristan when one of the men looked to her.

"Ser Richard Lonmouth, my queen, your brother's former squire." Barristan whispered when she bid him closer to find out who it was he recognized.

He pointed out the others, Lord Monford Velaryon and his bastard brother Aurane Waters, Lord Guncer Sunglass, and the aged Lord Adrian Celtigar and a younger man who Barristan said was a Bar Emmon. Yet it was the man who had been her brother's squire that she found her eyes drawn to and who was the first to move forward to speak, though Missandei beat him to it. Dany was happy that she used the words she had told her to with these men and not the words that she may have, had she not known of the truth of her nephew.

"You are in the presence of Daenerys Stormborn of the House Targaryen, Princess of the Seven Kingdoms, The Mother of Dragons, The Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, The Unburnt, The Breaker of Chains" Missandei said, her voice booming which caught the men a bit by surprise given her age and size, Dany looked on as Ser Richard then stepped forward.

"Princess Daenerys, my name is Richard Lonmouth and the men with me are the Lords of the Narrow Sea and houses sworn to your own and to his grace's. May I present Lord Monford Velaryon and his brother Lord Aurane Waters, Lord Adrian Celtigar, Lord Guncer Sunglass, and Lord Duram Bar Emmon." Ser Richard said and Dany nodded and smiled at the men.

"I welcome you to Astapor Ser Richard, and you, my Lords of the Narrow Sea." she said and though she wished to speak to them of Rhaegar, she had agreed with Barristan and Jorah that they needed to bring him up to her first.

"My princess, we've been sent here by our king to bring you home." Richard began and she found she couldn't wait for him to speak further, she needed to hear him say the words out loud.

"And who is your king, Ser Richard?" she asked and noticed how both Jorah and Barristan looked at the man, they as eager as she was to hear the words.

"Your nephew, my princess. King Rhaegar Targaryen, the first of his name, trueborn son of Prince Rhaegar and Princess Lyanna Targaryen." Ser Richard said and Dany knew the smile she wore was beaming, the look on Ser Richard's face and the faces of the other men telling her so.

She resisted the urge to look to Barristan and Jorah and tell them she had told them so, that she had been right and that once more her dreams were coming true. While they'd not outright said she was wrong, she knew they had doubted her and had she looked at their faces she knew that doubt was now gone, so there was no need for her to gloat. Instead, she looked to Ser Richard and to the Lords of the Narrow Sea, and then she rose from the throne she sat.

"Ser Richard, my lords, I'd ask you all to join with me as we eat tonight and perhaps you can tell me more of my nephew." she said and she saw that Ser Richard look a bit relieved as if he doubted she would be welcoming of this news.

He had much to learn, not just of her and her dragons but of what she knew of Rhaegar too and if he doubted she welcomed this news, then he would soon know that she did anything but.

**King's Landing 299 AC.**

**Tyrion.**

They had lost her, of all the things they could do they had gone and lost Sansa bloody Stark and these fools cared not. The king almost laughing at the thoughts that she'd been raped and murdered and left somewhere to rot while Cersei ranted and raved about the audacity of people rioting and attacking them. As if the poor wretches had no reason to do so, that their lives were so good that they should be grateful from the scraps from their table. He was surrounded by fools and idiots and they would be the death of him or would be if Stannis Baratheon didn't see to his death first.

When he'd realized Sansa was missing he'd sent the Hound to find her, or to be more accurate he'd demanded someone find her and the Hound had gone to do so, coming back later having found no sight nor sound of her. Varys too was remarkably quiet on Sansa Stark's fate and were it not for Bronn then he'd not have heard anything of it at all.

" _She was seen being grabbed by a man, Tyrion, dragged away over a man's shoulder." Bronn said._

" _So she was raped then?" he asked, feeling far more upset over it than he may normally have had she been someone else._

" _I don't think so, I think she was rescued." Bronn said catching him by surprise._

" _What?" he asked incredulously._

" _There were some gold cloaks gutted near the docks, five of them and the men who did so were trained, Tyrion, I'd stake my cock on it." Bronn said with a laugh._

" _Did any ships sail north?" he asked worriedly._

" _No, one sailed but just it's normal route from what I can gather." Bronn said and he took some relief from that, though not much._

Whether it was that he had found out so much on his own, or because the day was drawing ever closer when the city may fall, he couldn't be certain. Whatever the reason, Varys eventually came to him with the news of where Sansa Stark was and it was news that he had almost expected by then.

" _She was seen in the company of some men heading towards Maidenpool, along with two wolves, a grey one and a white one." Varys said and Tyrion looked at him wondering how long he'd known this before he'd brought it to him._

" _Is Jon Snow still at the Wall?" he asked._

" _Apparently the young man didn't swear his oath and departed not long after his brother called the banners." Varys said._

In some ways, he respected the boy for doing what he now believed he had done. He'd come into their city unknown and he'd taken her from right under their noses, in others though it worried him greatly. One wolf was already causing them enough problems as it was, he feared what the other would do and what they may together and if Jon Snow could do something this audacious, then what would he do next?. Unfortunately, he didn't have time to reflect upon this question for long, the news had come about the departure of Stannis's fleet and the battle was soon to be upon them, which quickly took up all his attention.

For three days and nights, he spent more time on the battlements than he did in his bed, every waking hour making sure that preparations were made and that they were ready for what they would face. When the actual attack came he was still caught by surprise and so he was late to it. Tyrion then having to listen to his idiot nephew tell all and sundry what he was going to do to Stannis Baratheon and were it another time he'd wish the two did actually meet on the field. Tonight though he found he wished anything but, because if Stannis actually faced Joffrey then it would mean they had lost. His nephew wouldn't be anywhere near the battle when it finally took place, cowards never were.

The green flames lit up the sky and he watched as both men and ships burned and the flames cared not for which they found first. Still, it wasn't enough, ships landed and the battle was upon them and as he expected, his nephew proved his lack of bravery at the first opportunity he could. That it came at the cost of the men's spirit and courage was not what he expected and it left him needing to rally the men to fight. More so when he met up with the Hound and saw that his fight was done too.

"What do you mean you're leaving, what about the city, the king?" he shouted at the much larger man.

"Fuck the City, Fuck the King." The Hound said as he walked away from them.

The king may have broken the men's spirit and courage, but it was Clegane who broke their will to fight and Tyrion knew that he had to do something to restore it.

"Those men out there come to your city, to take your homes. It'll be your wives and children who suffer should they break through those gates. We must stop them, you, the man next to you, and I, we must stop them. I may only be half a man but my ax is good and my will is strong, will you fight with me? There are men out there who are in dire need of killing, will you kill them with me? I am only a half-man but the gods are on my side this night and when I stick my ax up someone's arse it'll matter not that I'm not a full one. Will you fight with me, men, for our city, for our families, for those we love, we fight or we die." he said his words getting louder all the while.

"For the Half Man." Shagga shouted.

"For the Half Man." others shouted even more loudly.

Leaving through the Mud Gate he soon felt that perhaps Joffrey had the right of it. Tyrion quickly finding himself in a world of chaos and trouble and his ax finding the belly of a man far sooner than he would have wished. Stannis had managed to get far more men landed than he had expected and he knew then that they would lose, yet still, his ax swung and the men around him swung their own blades just as fiercely. When the pain came he was stunned to see who it was that had struck the blow and were he not in so much agony then he'd have laughed at the fact she'd managed to get to him in the end.

Ser Mandon didn't get the chance to finish him off though as Tyrion heard the splash and looked up to see Podrick standing where Mandon had only just been. His squire's words were lost to him as the darkness came upon him but he could hear other shouts that did register more. Shouts of Renly and House Tyrell and of the Old Lion and he knew then his father had managed to make it to King's Landing, the day was not lost, after all, only him he thought as his eyes closed and he drifted into unconsciousness.

**Skagos 299 AC.**

**Jon Snow.**

Flying with the dragon was incredible and he knew that it should be what he most thought about and yet it was not. Instead, it was just being with him, feeling him in his head, his thoughts, worries, concerns, and his joy in the fact that they were finally together. That he felt them all as keenly as Lightbringer did only deepened the experience. After taking to the air and flying over the island, they'd then flown back to the cave and he'd spoken with the dragon. He'd promised him that they would not only fly again soon but that from now on they'd fly together often.

When he had gone to leave, Lightbringer had been angered, Jon taking time to tell him that he needed to speak to those he came here with, that he had to let them know he was unharmed. He felt Lightbringer snort at that, both the thoughts that he would ever harm his rider or that his rider would ever be harmed again were somehow clear to him. In the end, he'd compromised, he'd promised the dragon he'd sleep by his side once he'd spoken to his sisters and to Arthur. That Lightbringer had then insisted he flew back to the village with him and waited for him, was something he welcomed, Jon leaning against his head to speak softly to him and offer up reassurance.

"I've only just found you, my friend, we are one and nothing will ever change that, I swear it to you, I swear it on Fire and Blood." he said.

"Fire and Blood." he heard Lightbringer repeat and then he climbed onto the dragon's back.

He was nervous flying to the village, both for the worry that seeing the dragon may cause and knowing that he'd need to speak to Sansa about his truth. Arya had taken it well, but their bond was special and while he and Sansa were getting closer he worried that this may push them back further apart. There was also Robb and her mother to think about, he knew Sansa would understand what this meant in relation to them more than Arya had. His little sister was smart and clever but she cared not for politics or such things, Sansa however did, and so she'd know what it meant that he was a Targaryen and a Dragonrider, while Arya would always just focus far more on the latter.

After he had landed and had once again promised the dragon that he'd sleep by his side, Lightbringer then refusing to leave until he left with him, Jon walked the short distance to the village. Unsurprisingly he wouldn't get to enter it fully alone. Arya, Arthur, and Sansa along with Thoros and the others, the Magnar and his men, and of course moving far more swiftly than all of them, Ghost, all rushed to meet him. Jon kneeling down to rub the white wolf's neck as soon as he reached him.

"Aye, I'm good, we have a new friend, Ghost, I'll introduce you two later." he said softly.

"Jon, Jon, where is it, where's the dragon?" he heard Arya say excitedly as she ran ahead of the others and into his arms.

"I'll take you to him on the morrow, little sister" he said and he knew by her look that she'd make sure he kept his word on that "Arthur." he said with a nod upon seeing the knight and then he looked to Sansa and the others.

He knew there was a multitude of questions to be answered, the Magnar looked behind him and though Lightbringer was out of their line of sight, he wasn't very far away. Jon let the dragon know that he was safe and well and then he told the Magnar and the others that they had nothing to fear from the black dragon.

"Lightbringer means you no harm, The Magnar, you or your people. Though I'd ask them not to get too close unless I'm with them." he said looking to the large man.

"As you say, The Jon." the Magnar said and Jon watched as he then spoke to those with him.

"I know you've all got questions and I'll answer them all once we're back at the village." he said and he saw that Sansa was looking at him worriedly and so he smiled at her and was glad to see her smile back at him.

Arya peppered him with questions as they walked and he knew he wouldn't have had it any other way. To see her as she was supposed to be and not as the scared little girl he'd rescued was something that he welcomed happily. It had taken her time to shake off all she'd gone through and now other than what happened to her father, she almost barely remembered it all. Both he and Arthur had kept her busy with sparring and she had told him that she was now his squire, whether he wanted one or not. While she still snuggled up close to him some nights, she slept alone far more often and yet it was the excited way that she asked about things that truly proved her back to herself.

"Will you take me flying on the dragon?"

"Why is he called Lightbringer?"

"How did you know that there was a dragon here, Jon?"

"Was it him that you were to meet?"

"Is it him?"

He chuckled and mussed her hair as they walked, while looking to Arthur and trying to tell him without words that he was unhurt and that what they had come here for was far more true than either of them had expected. By the time they were in the village and he was sitting facing them all, he knew he'd only barely managed the first of those things. So he began to lay out the second of them as much as he could.

"The dragon is called Ōñosmaghare" he began.

"Lightbringer." Thoros said reverently.

"Aye, Lightbringer. To many he was known under another name though it wasn't true, Cannibal." he said and saw Arthur's and some of the men's eyes widen "He was waiting for me, he's always been waiting for me." he said almost proudly.

"Why?" Sansa asked.

"Because I'm his rider, we're bonded him and I." he said and he didn't need to close his eyes to feel Lightbringer's pleasure upon hearing him say it "I've promised him that I'd sleep by his side tonight, there's nothing for any of you to fear from him, not when it comes to me or those I care about." he said looking to Arthur and then his sister's to let them know that he and they would be safe around the dragon.

"And those you don't?" Gendry asked.

"Them, they should fear us both." he said seeing Arya's smile.

"What are we to do now, Jon?" Thoros asked and he was glad he'd not called him, your grace, though he knew that it was only for Sansa's benefit that he had not.

"I need some time to get used to flying on the dragon before we leave, to understand him more, once I do then we can set sail." he said and he watched as they all looked at him eagerly, though it was Arthur who asked the question.

"For where?" Arthur asked.

"Dragonstone." he said hearing Arya's excited gasp and seeing Sansa's worried look.

He asked them to give him a moment with Sansa, Arya doing so reluctantly but after he whispered in her ear that he needed to tell her the truth, she nodded and then walked away with Arthur and the others. His little sister looking over her shoulder and offering him a reassuring smile as she did so. Looking to his other sister he could see that she was confused, worried, and upset and he wasn't entirely sure which emotion was the one she was feeling the most or what the true reason for any of them was. All he knew was he needed to tell her the truth about himself and he hoped she took it well.

"I'm not the son of Ned Stark, Sansa, my father was Rhaegar Targaryen and my mother was his wife Lyanna Targaryen." he said feeling it best to come right out with it and he was surprised when just like Arya the reaction was the same.

"Jon….you're not my brother?" Sansa said her voice showing her hurt at that thought and though he felt for her, he welcomed it a little too.

"I am your brother, I've always been your brother and I will always be your brother if that's what you wish me to be." he said moving close to her and he was relieved when she didn't move away "We share blood Sansa but that's not what makes you my sister, it's what's in here." he said touching his hand to his heart "In here you're my sister, you, Arya, Robb, Bran, Rickon, all of you are my brothers and sisters."

"You're my brother, Jon, I want you to be my brother." she said and he took her in his arms, hugging her tightly to his chest and feeling her hug him back just as tightly.

They stayed like that for some time, before he felt her relax and he let her go, Sansa, looking at him, and just as he expected she got to the politics far quicker than Arya had.

"You're going for the throne aren't you, that's why we came here, it was so you could get your dragon and go for the throne, wasn't it?" she asked.

"I am my father's heir, Sansa, I could tell you that the throne is mine by right of blood but who cares for such things, certainly not the Lannisters and so I need to take it back from them which means I need help to do so. I've sent for that help, my aunt is in exile in Essos and has spent her life running from men who wish her dead, now she will run no more. There are Leal houses that will come to my side too, but aye, the dragons are what will take it back for me." he said.

"Dragons?" she asked looking at him.

"Mine and my aunt's." he said with a soft smile on his face.

"Robb? What of Robb?" she asked almost panicked and he reached out to take her hand in his.

"Robb took a crown because he had no other choice, he wasn't aware of me and I believe once he is he'd not seek to usurp me any more than I would have him. The North can't survive without the South, it may think it can but it can't and so I'll speak to Robb and the to the Lords of the North and try and get them to see that." he said and he saw Sansa nod and was glad that she didn't bring up what may happen if they did not.

"What of us, Jon, of me and Arya?" she asked and he looked at her confused.

"Sansa?"

"Are we hostages, prisoners?" she asked worriedly.

"You think I would do such a thing? I told you, you're my sister, Sansa, you and Arya both. I wish you with me because I believe I can keep you both safe, safer than any in the realm, but I'd never force you to be by my side. If you wish I can bring you back to White Harbor, or see you to Riverrun when I make for Dragonstone, or you can if you wish to come with me, but it's your choice, Sansa, yours and Arya's and whatever you chose I'll accept." he said looking into her eyes as he spoke.

"You wish us with you?" she asked, her voice soft and sounding far younger than she was.

"Always." he said smiling.

"I want to see my mother again, Jon, see Robb, Bran, and Rickon but I'm…I'm not ready yet, I feel safe with you, with all of you, and now that you have a dragon." she said with a giggle.

"Safer still." he said and she nodded.

"I'd like to come to Dragonstone with you, I know Arya will want nothing other than that and so that's what I want." she said determinedly and he leaned forward to kiss her cheek, one of the very few times he'd ever done so and she seemed to welcome it.

"Then that's what we'll do, Sansa." he said and she smiled as she hugged him again, Jon then helping her to her feet and the two of them walking back to the others.

When they caught up with them, Arya looked at him concernedly until he smiled at her, and then he asked Arthur to join him while he spoke to the Magnar. The knight walking beside him as they made their way to the hall that served as the keep.

"The Dragon, Rhaegar, is it truly the Cannibal?" Arthur asked as they walked.

"Not anymore, Arthur, not truly ever but certainly not anymore. There is no danger from him, not to me, I swear it to you. The only people who need to fear the dragon are the Lannsiters." he said and Arthur nodded.

"We are truly heading to Dragonstone?" Arthur asked a not of excitement in his voice.

"Aye, I'm to meet Dany there and her men, Ser Richard and the Lord of the Narrow Sea too and from there we can plan our next steps." he said and Arthur nodded before smirking.

"Your father would be jealous, a dragon, he always believed that you'd wake them from stone." Arthur said and Jon laughed loudly catching the knight by surprise.

"Skagos, Arthur, it means stone in the old tongue," he said and Arthur looked at him before he too began to laugh.

"We'll need to announce you, Rhaegar, to let the realm know the truth of you, that you exist and that you're here to take your throne back." Arthur said a few moments later.

"Dragonstone has ravens does it not? A Maester?" he asked and Arthur nodded.

"Then once we reach it, we'll send out word from there, we'll soon find out who is on our side, and who is not." he said and Arthur stopped to look at him.

"And those who are not?"

"Fire and Blood, Arthur, they'll kneel or we'll show them Fire and Blood." he said seeing the proud look on Arthur's face.

After speaking to the Magnar and letting him know a little more about the dragon, and then after spending some time with Arya to talk to her about Sansa and to ensure that she wished to come to Dragonstone with him, something she said she did before he ever got the chance to ask her. Jon then made his way back to Lightbringer and they flew to the cave, the dragon trilling happily when he lay down beside him and they both slept side by side. His dreams were of Dany that night, finding out that she had flown too and that they were moving ever closer to seeing each other and he felt far more complete than he had ever done before.

**Skagos 299 AC.**

**Cregan Magnar, The Magnar.**

When the ship had landed and word had come to him that the white wolf was here, Cregan hadn't believed it at first. Then when the men had come and he'd seen the large wolves he felt his heart beat that much faster. Once he'd seen the white wolf and how the boy had touched it, how it was clearly his and his alone, he'd rejoiced and welcomed them into his halls. His people had celebrated and yet for Cregan, he'd simply wished the boy to see the images and to prove them true.

So he'd taken the boy to the walls and shown him and then he watched as the boy had then left his men and walked to the caves by himself as a true man should. What was in those caves he knew not, only it was large and dark and he and his people feared it truly. When he saw it in the air though he could barely believe it, just as he couldn't believe the boy that sat on its back. Were he not sure he was the white wolf already, that would have certainly proved him so and as he listened to him tell them they had nothing to fear from the dragon and that it was his mount, he knew he needed to send for the others.

House Crowl arrived first followed by House Stane and seeing Torrhen and Brandon again under such circumstances was something he welcomed. While never truly allies or truly enemies, each house had its own rules, laws and at times they would cross steel with each other. That would end this night and he smiled when they looked at the girl and her grey wolf. Cregan almost searching for the other girl and the white one and when it came, he saw how they looked at it and at him. He bid them sit with him in the hall and after they'd taken guest right and he'd sent for ale, the three of them took their place by the fire.

"Where is the boy, The Magnar?" Brandon asked, the Stane looking at him eagerly.

"If I told you, you'd not believe me, The Stane, but he'll be here a little later and you'll see it for yourself." he said smiling.

"He truly is the White Wolf?" Torrhen asked, The Crowl looking at him just as eagerly as The Stane had.

"He is, Aye." he said.

"And he'll fulfill the prophecy?" Brandon asked.

"I believe so." he said seeing how both men looked at each other and then swallowed their ale enjoying it far more he felt.

He waited until they were done with the first mug and then bid them join him outside, the three men walking with their guards outside the village and then he saw it then in the sky. Though he wished to, he didn't laugh when he heard the surprised gasps that both men made, he knew he'd done the same thing when he'd seen the black dragon for the first time. By the time it landed they both truly believed and seeing the boy walk their way with his guard, his sisters and the white wolf by his side only reinforced that belief.

"The Jon, this is The Stane and The Crowl, they'd like to speak to you." Cregan said and Jon nodded at them before telling his sisters that they'd speak in a little while.

"Of course, The Magnar." Jon said before turning to follow them back in the hall.

The guard that shadowed his movements whenever he could and the white wolf both joined them and Cregan looked to see how both Brandon and Torrhen looked at both the boy and the wolf. He smiled to himself when he saw Jon reach down to rub the wolf's head, seeing how the two men watched them both eagerly. When they sat he offered the boy some ale and was glad when he took it, it had not been something he'd gotten him to do very often and his guard, never, but whether it was because of his guests or because the boy was thirsty, he welcomed it all the same.

"The Jon, the things we've spoken of, both The Stane and The Crowl wish to speak of them with you too." he said once everyone was comfortable, Jon nodding to both of the men to let them speak first.

"The white wolf, The Jon, he is yours?" The Stane asked.

"Ghost is his own, The Stane, he follows me and is my friend and protector but he's owned by no one."

"And the Dragon?" The Crowl asked.

"The same, we are bonded, The Crowl, just as Ghost and I are bonded." The Jon said with a warm smile.

"You saw the walls, The Jon?" The Stane asked.

"I did, and I've spoken to the Magnar about them. The North is at war and my brother leads its armies and wears a crown, yet he'll not do so for long. As you can see I'm not just a wolf, The Stane, I'm not just a dragon either, The Crowl. I am both and the crown is mine by right of blood, though it'll take a war to see it on my head. I believe my brother will kneel willingly, others won't and perhaps my belief is false and my brother won't either. It matters not, in the end, they'll all kneel, those who do so by their own choice will gain my favor though." The Jon said and he saw the guard nod approvingly.

"And were we to kneel?" he asked, as both Cregan and Brandon looked to him and nodded.

"Then I'll give you leave to build your ships once more, I'll even see you given some to start you off. I'll not accept reaving or raiding though, not here, not in the North or the South, instead, I'll see you allowed to trade, to deliver trade or to offer protection for that trade, I'll see your people rise, just as the drawings on the wall have shown." The Jon said and he saw the smiles on Brandon and Torrhen's faces, both men joining him and rising to their feet.

He bid The Jon do likewise and once he had, all three of them then took to their knees to swear to the boy, eager and happy to do so.

"You have my oath, The Jon, I name you my king, here on this day and you have mine and my people's oath that we will fight by your side." he said looking to the boy's face and seeing he looked pleased by his words.

"As you have mine, The Jon." Brandon said.

"And mine, my king." Torrhen said.

"Then I bid you rise my lords, rise and be welcomed and I swear to you that all promises I make here today I'll see come to pass or I'll die trying to bring about. I'll give you back your ships and welcome you as the good and true men you are. I'll allow none to speak down to you, to threaten you or to attack you without knowing that they risk the ire of the White Wolf and the Black Dragon, I swear it to you, my lords, on Fire and Blood." The Jon said and as he rose to his feet he welcomed the words that he and others had been waiting to hear for more than a hundred years.

**Skagos 299 AC.**

**Ōñosmaghare: The Bringer of Light.**

_It was all he'd wished for and more, the feeling of completeness something he'd never known and one that he knew that now he could not live without. Flying with his rider on his back was very different than when he flew alone and the more they did so the more their bond grew. He could feel his rider's worries, his happiness, his joy, and his fear, and he shared his own emotions with him just as freely._

_After the first flight when his rider had wished to go back to the village he had refused, thinking wrongly that he was leaving him, only to be told that he was not. Still, he'd flown with him to make sure, to be certain, and when he'd come back and lay down beside him, he had slept and dreamt of his mother, something his rider told him that he too had dreamt off. Both of them sharing dreams of the one who had brought them into this world and of their loss. He felt his rider's pain at not knowing his mother and shared with him the memories of his own, happy to see it comforted his rider that he at least had time with his mother, where his rider had not._

_They shared other dreams too, his rider showing him the girl with the silver hair and her own dragons, those like him but not truly the same as him. He listened as his rider told him of the girl, of their own connection and that she looked for him as he had looked for him, that she was coming his way and bringing her dragons with her. It scared him, worried him, and he was glad both when his rider told him that no matter what their bond was unbreakable, that only death would take either of them from the other and he had no plans to die anytime soon._

" _You've waited more than a lifetime for me and I intend for us to share a lifetime together." his rider said and he had wished for nothing more._

_That they were to go back to the island filled him with concern as did seeing more of his kind once more, but his rider told him that what he had done had been necessary and that from now on he was all the magic he needed. It was something he felt as keenly as his rider did, their bond wasn't just the bond of friendship or longing for completeness, it was the bond of magic too and both his and his rider's magic was growing stronger because of each other._

_His flames were even more powerful now, the first time he'd asked his rider to set them loose he'd been surprised by their ferocity. He was faster, more nimble and after the first few times they flew and he realized he was not going to lose his rider from his back, they had then played in the air, doing things he'd not done before. That his rider was able to easily stay on his back was something they both put down to magic, their bond, and to the gods themselves. His rider telling him that he trusted him and never felt unsecured or capable of falling when they flew together. It pleased him greatly, to know that he was trusted, as it did to be praised by his rider after each and every one of their flights._

_What pleased him less was knowing there would be those who wished to harm his rider, to hurt him, to even try and take him from him and to those he would gladly bring the flames. That his rider had asked him and didn't order him to do so only showing that they were as one._

" _I must take back my family's throne,_ Ōñosmaghare _, see that my family is safe, that Dany is safe. This means I must go to war, I want you with me when I do so, but I understand if you have no wish to fight, whatever you chose I'll accept, and it'll change nothing between us. I am your rider and you are my dragon, war or not, we are as one and always will be." his rider said and he had rejoiced to hear him speak so._

_He'd bring the fire to his rider's enemies, to all of his enemies, he'd see them burn and see his rider where he was meant to be. Dragon's had no equal, not in the sky or the sea and not on land and his rider was a dragon as much as he._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A small note on Skagos, we have no names of characters from there, other than they use the term The when referencing someone, such as The Jon, The Stane, etc.
> 
> I decided not to dwell too much on the Battle of Blackwater, as we all know what happens and so I just gave it a brief look through Tyrion's eyes. We'll see more of how people reacted to it, to Sansa's rescue, and to Jon's truth all kind of combined in a way. Which I think works better and pretty much from this point on, canon is dead. The Battle of Blackwater bay happened as it did in canon and Jon/Dany pretty much change the game from this chapter onwards. 
> 
>   
> Up Next, at Riverrun, Robb learns the truth about his brother and struggles with a decision while we take a look at events in Winterfell. Jon, his sisters, Arthur, and the others leave Skagos and head for Dragonstone while Dany says goodbye to Astapor. The realm learns the truth about Jon Snow and Jon and Dany meet in person for the first time.

**Author's Note:**

> This will updated monthly on a Monday, so the next chapter is due on 2nd November.
> 
> Up Next as Jon and Arthur head south to free his sisters we'll see more of his time with Aemon at the wall and some of Arthur's time in Greywater Watch and beyond, in the Riverlands Robb deals with the fallout of his brother's departure and we'll get our first glimpse of Arya and Dany.


End file.
